The Dollar General at 12000 Ridgefield Parkway in Henrico is one of 24 local stores that applied for an ABC license. (Photo by Mark Robinson)
Scrounge up your loose change: A bargain retailer is trying to get into the booze business in Richmond.
Two dozen Dollar General stores in the Richmond area have applied for Alcoholic Beverage Control licenses with the state, which would permit the sale of beer and wine.
The retailer, which operates more than 10,000 stores in 40 states, sells alcohol in other states, including Indiana, Kentucky and Alabama. In the past, customers have had mixed reactions to the corporation’s attempts to sell alcohol.
Calls and emails to Dollar General spokeswoman Crystal Ghassemi were not returned by press time.
The public has 30 days to comment or object to the store’s applications with the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
The Dollar General at 12000 Ridgefield Parkway in Henrico is one of 24 local stores that applied for an ABC license. (Photo by Mark Robinson)
Scrounge up your loose change: A bargain retailer is trying to get into the booze business in Richmond.
Two dozen Dollar General stores in the Richmond area have applied for Alcoholic Beverage Control licenses with the state, which would permit the sale of beer and wine.
The retailer, which operates more than 10,000 stores in 40 states, sells alcohol in other states, including Indiana, Kentucky and Alabama. In the past, customers have had mixed reactions to the corporation’s attempts to sell alcohol.
Calls and emails to Dollar General spokeswoman Crystal Ghassemi were not returned by press time.
The public has 30 days to comment or object to the store’s applications with the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
I have very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, the free enterprise side of me sees nothing wrong with the idea. On the other hand, I don’t want to see the two Dollar Generals near my home become the local source of a cheap drunk – with the corresponding litter that usually accompanies it. I don’t feel like I should have a say in the matter, but I’m rather hoping the ones near me stay alcohol free all the same.
24 Dollar General stores in the Richmond area? That’s probably all of the DG stores in the Richmond area because I didnt even know there were that many in the area. I dont like this idea.The last thing Richmond needs is to make it more and more convenient to obtain alcohol, especially in low income communities where these stores typically are. I wish the oppression would stop.
Oppression? I understand if you don’t support the idea of the stores selling alcohol, but calling it oppression is just plain stupid.
I’m sure we live different lives, so I dont expect you to understand.
Shelly you are one hundred percent wrong here. Sorry. Start by reading the definition of oppression. Then explain how that definition is different depending on the life you live. I wont even get in to everyone’s freedom of where to shop if they are able to shop in competitive retail stores in the first place.
the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, anxiety, etc. A lot of people in low income housing dont have transportation to get to stores that have competitive prices, so they are forced to pay $2.60 for bread, when they can go to Kroger and get the same bread for $1. Those hole in the wall stores that Patrick refers to below charge high prices because people with low income have no choice but to pay them. I can go on and on about this subject but that’s not the topic here. Like I said,… Read more »
LOL. In poorer neighborhoods, the Dollar General is usually located next to (or relatively close to) the ABC store already.
Perhaps not the greatest idea to come along. Aren’t there enough hole-in-the-wall local corner stores that sell bum wine and watery beer?
why do we immediately associate Dollar General with low-income? They do have stores in neighborhoods that are lower income but they are also in the shopping center Furthermore, the article states that they want to sell beer and wine like CVS, Wallgreens, grocery stores, and almost every gas station that I can think of. So are those establishments also oppressing? Why is this a bad idea, if many of its competitors already offer the same selection of items?
meant to say that they are in a shopping center near Gayton and Ridgefield Parkway.
“Why do we immediately associate Dollar General with low-income?”
Because that’s where the vast majority of the stores are Drew. See for yourself. The store you mention is an anomaly, the working neighborhoods in the Southside and East End have many DG stores, while there are very few in more affluent areas of town. There is exactly one DG within the box defined by 195, 64, 288, and 76.
http://www.christerrell.com/Pictures/DG.JPG
Our Dollar General sits two doors down from the ABC store. Our part of town, while getting better, is still considered blighted, poor, run down…etc. we are under mass revitalization and fight the vagrants which are habitually drunk or high on drugs. We do not desire yet another place for these people to come in from other neighborhood, beg for money, buy alcohol, urinate in public, harass our children and elderly an all around rude and obnoxious behavior. Boo…to the state if they grant this license…which no doubt they will as it means more money to the state…
Insofar as not having the means to get to another store…ther are three corner stores where they can and do by beer at $1.00 for a tall boy which they known to mix with a power are for an additional zip. The ABC store also offers small single shots of alcohol. …known as block shots. Widely,popular in this area as we spen hours each week picking up the debris during community clean ups…which by the way are not attended by the drunks…to top it off – for the most part they beg for money…call you filthy names if you do… Read more »