What the Explosion of the Dollar Store Says About the State of Our Cities

But according to a new report from the Institute for Local Self Reliance, the dollar store model isn’t just another cheap place to pick up toilet paper. It’s a symptom of some of the most pernicious forms of neighborhood decline—and, ILSR argues, it’s actually speeding that decline in a race to extract the last traces of wealth from failing communities. In this episode of Upzoned, Chuck and Kea dig into ILSR’s findings, and talk about where they agree (and don’t) with the institute’s policy prescriptions that might help end the dollar store scourge. It’s a deep dive into a nuanced problem, and a nice teaser for our upcoming webcast with ILSR co-director Stacy Mitchell.