A small town in eastern Kentucky has an unusual claim to fame: with a population of just 1,424, it has six dollar stores, most of them built in the past few years.
Olive Hill, a quiet hamlet situated on Tygarts Creek in the Appalachian foothills, has two Family Dollar locations and four Dollar General stores in and immediately surrounding the town.
All but one of them are located along Tom T. Hall Boulevard, the town’s main drag, named after Olive Hill’s most famous native, the country singer and songwriter nicknamed ‘The Storyteller’.
‘It seems like there’s a dollar store every few feet!’ Olive Hill resident Phyllis Binion told DailyMail.com, laughing as she expressed bewilderment at the trend.
Over the past decade, dollar stores have been the fastest-growing food retailers by share of household expenditure, with growth in rural areas more than doubling, according to a recent study.
But critics fear that the convenience and affordability of food at dollar stores is offset by health concerns about their food offerings, which skew toward high-calorie, ultra-processed packaged foods.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11736321/Why-does-tiny-Kentucky-town-six-dollar-stores.html