The Dollar General store in Pine Grove is open! The Grand Opening was held, and flyers are showing up in our mailboxes.
The parking lot has a few cars in it. Probably not many belong to employees- they don’t hire many, and I have concern for the health and well-being of the “manager”. Dollar General has had difficulties over the years which hasn’t helped their reputation.
It’s not another Dollar Tree. A lot of what they sell is more than a dollar. Seeing the prices will put one in a mindset right away to start making comparisons to regular stores. In my walking around, I overheard comments that the prices weren’t that great, and people were walking out empty-handed. But convenience will be a factor, and the store will no doubt do ok.
Across the street is the Pine Grove Market, an institution in the area for years. It used to be Claypool’s Market, and it has gone through a few changes in recent years. Its parking lot appears to have more cars than the Dollar General store. People are used to it, and it has a deli. And a great selection of beer. But to be fair, the DG hasn’t been open that long yet. And people heading up 88 from Jackson can see the PG market, and it’s easy to pull into the parking lot from the highway. They can’t see the new store on the left- perhaps a large sign on the highway is in the works. I don’t know about that. But if they want to put one in, my guess is it will happen. For all I know, it’s already in place.
Dollar General has an aggressive expansion plan. I don’t have any specifics regarding future stores in Amador County. I’ve heard a rumor that Plymouth is in their sights. But Joshua Simon’s company isn’t standing still in its efforts to search out locations.
I heard a rumor that Fred Claypool is opening a market in Moke Hill on the corner of 49 and 26. I wonder if Dollar General would see that location as being worthwhile, too. Maybe once the market is open, they will want to build close by. You know- in the interests of healthy competition.
When you type “planned Dollar General stores” into the Google, you see a lot of articles about town meetings and enraged citizens and petition drives. Their stores don’t seem to be very popular, for the same reasons our local citizens have expressed. Driving by 88 and Ridge, I can readily see their point. The building is stunningly nondescript. When citizens were afforded enough time, though, some efforts have borne fruit.
I’m no architect, but my sensibilities are offended. And I know- the view across the street isn’t great. But somebody could always tear down the gas station. Not a lot of effort was put in to have the DG store blend in to the rustic character of the area. The Dollar General is done, and we’ll have to look at it for a long time.
The planned store in Pioneer appears to be inevitable. There may still be time to influence the design, though. It’s up to the local citizens to continue to apply pressure.
D. Norman
Sorry that your sensibilities were offended by a cost savings standard building that helps afford low income shoppers a savings of 18% over Wal Mart prices. Certainly their almost $19 billion in annual sales testifies to their failure as a retail concern. We wouldn’t have so many low income shoppers here if we had sawmills, biomass plants and more quarries and mines. But they offend the sensibilities of a well financed few who apparently aren’t offended by the unemployment and poverty that results.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cspnet.com/category-news/general-merchandise/articles/dollar-general-wins-value-shoppers
Mr. Bennett, I am grateful for your reply. While my sensibilities will always be offended by the appearance of the new Dollar General store, I will now feel much better. I will know that the money saved by erecting such an ugly building will enable DG Corporation to provide substantial bargains to its customers. In fact, I am so grateful for your insight, I will now regularly patronize the DG store. That 18% is too hard to pass up. Sorry, Walmart- you won’t be getting any more of my low income dollars. Actually- fixed income dollars.
ReplyDeleteIn a similar manner, you have comforted me on a daily basis by what you wrote last November about plastic bags. As I drive around my beloved county, I see them on the roadsides and stuck in the branches of bushes, and I start to get upset. But then I stop myself and recall your reminder that plastic bags are “free”, and a symbol of a time of “prosperity” that we need to get back. And there probably are not that many people like me that are “sincerely” concerned about plastic bag pollution anyway.
But if the unthinkable happens, and plastic bags are banned, I’ll adjust. I’ll just have to accept this sign of our reduced affluence and grudgingly take my cloth bags to the Dollar General. I’m sure they will sell them. In bright yellow. And no doubt for more than $1 per bag.
Apparently some people can’t appreciate the elegant simplicity of a functional building. Form follows function doesn’t have to be the rule. Perhaps the art nouveau of Europe or the art deco of Miami or Los Angeles? What is your choice? As my mother always said: To each his own. But she never said anything about imposing your taste on others.
ReplyDeleteAs unpleasant as plastic bags along the road are, what is the cause and effect relationship, if any, between one’s propensity to litter and the number of bags you leave the store with? Since between plastic bags for produce, meat wrapping, etc, I usually leave the super market with at least 15 plastic wrappings. What significant difference will that last bag make? Since it would be a bit impracticable to go into the checkout line juggling peaches and cherries containers are necessary. If you brought your own the checkout clerk would have to somehow weight your container to subtract it from your purchase. Certainly measures such as these would make life easier for everyone.
As I have started before, a ten cents a bag tax would just be a tax on the poor. If you don’t think that is what will happen, I can only surmise a lack of understanding of how “the other half” lives. In college I thought that progressive meant helping people in those circumstances, but I have since learned otherwise.
I feel that we have exhausted the issue of the architectural merits of the new Dollar General store in Pine Grove. People can hate it or not hate it- what’s the difference? It’s here to stay now. The good people of Pioneer and other Amador County towns can use it as an object lesson for future efforts and conversations. Or not.
ReplyDeleteAs for plastic bags, you may or may not know that in California there are many plastic bag ordinances already in place. I found one source that had it at 67 ordinances covering 88 municipalities.
I submit the example of Encinitas, a city of 60,000+. It is described as “an affluent coastal beach city in San Diego County”. In the link that I will provide to you at the end of this reply, it is pointed out that they are phasing in a ban of what they term “single-use carry-out bags”. They point out that these bags originate from many stores- not just grocery stores, and that 31.9 million of them are distributed in their city every year. They make the distinction between carry-out bags and produce bags, which they are not banning.
It is estimated that the plastic bag industry spent more than $3 million to gather the signatures to put this once again on the ballot and defeat the state-wide ban that should have gone into effect last month. 98% of that money came from out of state. They will spend $30-$50 million in their 2016 campaign. Talk about waste! Compare that to the low estimate of $34 million that our state spends to manage plastic bag litter. San Jose estimates that it costs them $1 million per year in plastic bag-related repairs to their recycling facilities. A recycling facility in Sacramento has stated that they have to shut down at least six times a day to remove plastic bags from their machines. And if the overturn of the ban is successful next November, it won’t affect the local bans already in place.
Calling the 10 cents per bag “a tax on the poor” is your opinion, and I consider it a red herring. Progressives know that it is a pass-through cost, and will result in an eventual switch to reusable bags. The citizens of affluent Encinitas don’t appear to be stigmatized by the prospect.
Here is the link- I think that you will find it as informative as I did:
http://www.encinitasca.gov/index.aspx?page=337
The visual experience of the Pine Grove Dollar General store will change when other stores are built around it. The only thing that could prevent that is the bad for business reputation our county has achieved given the ceaseless, but well funded, efforts of nihilistic environmentalists and progressives.
ReplyDeleteI am well aware that the ban the bag contingent has been victorious in many communities and that is why I feel so strongly that it must not continue. To call the political expenses of the bag industry’s survival fight wasteful when it was prompted entirely by outside hostile forces is ludicrous. I put no price tag on freedom. You can use whatever bag you want while I can do the same.
What secret economics do progressives possess that proclaims bag laws as a pass through cost that is economically neutral? Are supermarkets going to lower prices because they’ve lost their freedom to give out bags? Many supermarkets are complaining about the cost of revamping their checkout areas. But others claim that the supermarkets will profit from bag sales with one estimate stating $186 million per year.
How is the bag tax not a regressive tax on the poor? Whether they pay 10 cents per bag or fork over far more for a reusable bag, they will have to pay more. And remember that these are people carrying their laundry to the laundromat, with their new bags added.
We now have a Dollar General store sitting at a highly visible location in our county. And despite that you try to credit “nihilistic environmentalists and progressives” with having too much power and influence on what is built here. That doesn’t say much for the impact these folks actually have, does it? And I should note that “nihilistic environmentalists and progressives” is one of the best examples of an oxymoron that I have read in a long time.
ReplyDeleteYour opinion is that our county has a bad-for-business reputation, but you offer no examples. Can you provide an reference to that reputation in the Sacramento Business Times, or some other business journal? And if you have some inside dope on future buildings going in at that location, you know- the ones that will somehow mitigate the appearance of the DG store- please share.
And please elaborate on what “outside hostile forces” have prompted the plastic bag industry to prepare for what will be an extremely well-funded campaign ad blitz to defeat the statewide plastic bag ban, SB 270. Outside forces? It is people INSIDE the state that pushed for the ban. I was mistaken in my earlier reply- it is actually 130, not 88, communities that have their own bans, with another dozen working on them. Mayor Kevin Johnson announced his plan for Sacramento last December.
The plastic bag industry doesn’t want to lose what amounts to approximately $195 million per year at wholesale. The grocery industry is already dealing with local bans- they simply want a state-wide law to standardize the rules. They say that it’s just better for business.
Now, Mr. Bennett- feel free to reply once again. I get that you need to have the last word. I’m no longer interested in discussing either of these issues, nihilist that I apparently am.
There is nothing oxyomoromish about the nihilism of the environmental movement’s end game of deindustrialization, increased poverty and loss of private property rights and national sovereignty. It has been unfolding for years and has been vastly accelerated under the Obama regime. Josephine County, Oregon is a perfect case study.
ReplyDeleteOur county’s anti business reputation is self evident. Look at the hassles Dollar General has had to endure, the endless ligation against the water agency and the Newman Ridge project, the curtailment of future water rights with wild & scenic or the attempt for special regulation against so called formula businesses. I am well aware that the left indulges in these rhetorical techniques as you just have asking me to do research that is blatantly unnecessary. However, I don’t fall for it. You repeat the same device about the plastic bag industry, yet you are an admitted member of those outside hostile forces inhibiting their day to day business.
As for Kevin Johnson, he’s a crook pardoned by Obama and often acts dictatorial as mayor. In almost everything you have posted you have repeatedly propagandized an ideological perspective and infrequently shown concern for ordinary people.
One of the dangers of watching too much of this guy is that it can miseducate. But it may explain how you learned the mistaken usage of the word nihilism. If you want people to take you seriously, be careful with your word usage. Sometimes it pays to consult a dictionary.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.salon.com/2015/09/06/bill_oreillys_nonsense_nihilism_now_the_fox_news_host_is_even_lying_about_god/
You once again attack, in this case my use of the language, rather than my ideas. I use the language quite well and know what words mean. D. Norman, however, seems confused between his point of view and anything factual. As for the linked article from Salon, it is hateful, grossly ignorant of belief and full of PC garbage like “Abahamic faiths”.
ReplyDelete