“They’ve helped make a lot available to these low-income
communities.”
FOOD FOR A DOLLAR
When I’ve meandered through a local dollar store, I
rarely stopped to focus on the food — but after recognizing
that many communities are shopping here as their grocery
store of choice, the last time I went, I did.
Candy, soda, quick and easy snacks, instant ramen,
packaged dinner mixes and canned veggies lined the color-
ful aisles. Nothing seemed to be sold in very large quantity
and, as at the local Dollar Tree, it still had to cost $1.
In Racine’s research, she looked closely at the food that
dollar stores are selling, knowing that many low-income
communities are going to them rather than a general gro-
cery store for food.
Through her research, she found it was clear that while
many dollar stores are SNAP authorized, the variety of
healthy food options is often limited.
Racine found that no dollar stores sold fresh produce,
although some did have frozen vegetables and fruit. For
the most part, “What they appear to have is shelf staples,
some frozen food and a little bit of refrigerated food,” she
says.
Creswell lost its main grocery store, Ray’s Food Place,
in 2014. Aside from a small local grocery, Farmlands Mar-
ket, the availability of fresh foods is low. Creswell has two
dollar stores, two Dari Marts and a BiMart, but the nearest
grocery stores are in Eugene and Cottage Grove.
“You can’t buy a gallon of milk at Dollar Tree,” Racine
says. “It’s interesting when you look at the foods that you
can buy for a $1 — for example, a big 2- or 3-liter bottle
of soda can be sold at Dollar Tree, but only 16 ounces of
milk.”
To be SNAP authorized, stores must sell items that fall
under three out of the four categories: meat, poultry or fish;
bread or cereal; vegetables or fruits; or dairy products. What
a lot of dollar stores do, Racine explains, is sell breads, fro-
zen vegetables or fruits, and small amounts of dairy such as
milk and butter. Racine rarely found frozen meats.
“Because dollar stores appeal to lower-income shop-
pers and because they are often located in lower-income
areas, their role in food access should be taken into ac-
count,” Racine says.
The dollar stores phenomenon will continue multi-
plying and expanding to reach more of rural Oregon and
across the country — because this “boom” doesn’t seem to
be slowing down. ■
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THE RIGHT BANK.
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Pictured left to right: Kathi Phillpott, AVP, Branch Manager DeeAnne Thomas, AVP, Branch Manager Callie Barry Elliott, AVP, Branch Manager
Anthony Rico, AVP, Branch Manager Kara McDaniel, AVP, District Manager Raj Pelon, Branch Manager
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2435 Hilyard • 541-484-4497
M-F 7am-5pm | S-S 7:30am-5pm
eugeneweekly.com • December 14, 2017
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