Dollar stores are everywhere. Unlike big-box stores like Walmart or
Target, these small box stores slot neatly into local downtowns, urban and
rural alike. Because of the ease with which these stores can set up shop, the
majority of Americans live less than five miles from a dollar store franchise.
Opening at an impressive and alarming rate across the county, localities have
stopped to question whether the dollar stores are worth their dollar price tags.
Many local zoning boards have decided that the answer to that question
is undoubtably no, coming to several important conclusions. Dollar store
entry leads to their local grocer’s exit, resulting in a loss of both jobs and
access to produce and other fresh food. Crime rates climb steadily upwards
in the immediate vicinities of where the shops open. In the wake of these
realizations, scholars have conducted studies to determine if these conclusions
are empirically supported. The majority of these studies have answered that
inquiry affirmatively, bolstering the local conclusions further.
Beneath the obvious and increasingly statistically proven negative
trends lies something more sinister. This Comment argues that dollar stores
are part of our country’s longstanding history of local race-based exclusionary
zoning. That history resulted in today’s affordable housing crisis, which has
cemented both race-based and income-based inequality nationwide. This
Comment aims to demonstrate the parallels between the affordable housing
crisis and the dollar store invasion, arguing that the two crises are cut from
the same cloth.
Dozens of local zoning boards across the country have passed zoning
ordinances aimed at stopping the dollar store spread. This Comment argues
that the solution lies in statewide action and legislation, attacking the problem
from a necessarily higher level. Although the actions of localities are
commendable and potentially impactful, the solution to the dollar store
invasion cannot come wholly from local zoning—the very process that
arguably gave birth to the dollar store rise to begin with. The host of issues
associated with dollar stores are only becoming more pressing, demanding a
statewide response. This response is necessary not only to address the
immediate concerns of the dollar store spread, but also to remedy the decadeslong
injustice caused by exclusionary zoning. Just as states have belatedly stepped in to address the affordable housing crisis, states must take action to
cure the dollar store conundrum.
