Description
- Abstract:
- Dollar General is the most numerous store in the United States. With food accounting for the majority of the chain's sales, the stores play an integral role in food access. Using spatial analysis, interviews, survey responses and focus group conversations, I studied how Dollar General impacted food access and community morale in six Iowa communities. I found that Dollar General increases access to food but to consumables that were perceived to be less nutritious and more expensive. Community members also did not perceive Dollar General to be a place to purchase food or equivalent to a full-service grocery store. Inner-city and rural communities were united by a lack of food purchasing options that resulted in higher reliance on Dollar General for food. Historic disinvestment in urban communities and declining populations in rural areas lead these environments to be perceived as unprofitable by large grocery chains. Food access conditions were most severe in rural communities, leading 97.4% of survey respondents to purchase food at Dollar General. Few to no other food stores locally coupled with far distances to other communities made Dollar General a convenient option. Rural community members were most glad to have Dollar General as an option despite initial oppositions to the chain opening and complaints about the national corporation not caring about their local communities. Presently, rural residents recognized that everyone utilized Dollar General out of necessity and convenience; shopping at the store was not a marker of low economic status as it was perceived to be in urban and suburban communities. Furthermore, residents of urban and suburban communities perceived Dollar General to be a primarily rural concept. This thesis is an example of urban and rural communities facing similar circumstances; a lack of food stores in both inner-cities and small towns resulted in greater reliance on Dollar General for food. I use this to argue that urban sociologists should expand their studies past city boundaries to include rural areas. I take this a step further and argue that rural spaces are worthy of study independent of their connection to the urban. I posit that Dollar General is neither an example of planetary urbanism nor planetary ruralism, but rather a marker of disadvantaged populations that are not confined to only one geography. Current food systems are failing to provide sufficient food access for inner-city and rural Iowans. I conclude by proposing policy solutions to restrict and regulate Dollar General as well methods to support grocery stores in inner-city and rural environments.
- Notes:
- Senior thesis (AB)--Brown University, 2025
- Concentration: Urban Studies and Engineering
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Citation
Hornbuckle, Eliana C.,
"'Even when there is no reception, there is a Dollar General:' Dollar General's Impacts on Food Access and Community Morale in Rural, Suburban and Urban Iowa Communities"
(2025).
Urban Studies Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/pygk-5a70
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Urban Studies Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations for the Urban Studies department....