JOIN THE BOOMING
DOLLAR-STORE ECONOMY!
‘THE ONLY THING IN TOWN’
Dollar stores may have lured
middle-class customers in recent
years, but they still predominate
in low-income areas. A “dollarstore belt” stretches from Indiana
and Ohio south to the Gulf Coast.
It’s no accident that West Virginia and Mississippi — two of the
poorest U.S. states — are also the
two states with the greatest num-
HUFFINGTON
10.06.13
worked in a Dollar General store in
Montcalm County, Mich. The unemployment rate there was above
17 percent in 2010. It’s dropped
since then, but remains a stubborn
10.2 percent.
After about five years on the job,
Sheneman said she was making
$8.65 per hour as a “keyholder”
— a low-level store management
position. She and her husband car-
“It really took 20 years off my life
because of all the muscle pains. I have
back injuries, I have neck injuries.”
ber of dollar stores per capita, according to an analysis by the Martin Prosperity Institute.
“Retail salesperson” has become
the most common occupation in
America, with 4.3 million people
working the country’s sales floors
and registers. In down-and-out
areas, particularly where manufacturing or energy jobs have vanished,
dollar stores now hold some of the
only work that’s available.
“It’s the only thing in town,” said
Sheila Sheneman.
Until late last year, Sheneman
ried debt, and the modest paycheck
helped them tread water. But she
said it was “impossible to try and
live on those wages,” especially
when full-time hours are elusive for
non-managers.
If dollar stores are to hold good,
middle-class jobs, Sheneman said,
the companies need to provide
managers with enough payroll to
run their stores safely, even if that
means taking less profit or passing
some of the cost on to customers.
The current labor model comes
with its own unseen costs, like
high turnover and stress for employees, she said.
There’s also the intangible fac-