Dollar stores are seeing an increased number of customers looking to stretch their budgets amid soaring inflation, even as the cost of living is taking its toll on other retailers, according to new data.
Visits in the second quarter were up 8 percent year-over-year compared to the second quarter of 2021, and up 20.5 percent compared to the second quarter of 2019, according to the data.
Overall, foot traffic to discount and dollar stores remains above pre-pandemic levels.
The data suggest that dollar stores are continuing to meet heightened consumer demand amid economic challenges such as decades-high inflation, which has seen the cost of even basic essentials soar.
“In the early days of COVID, dollar and discount stores were one of the few retail categories that remained open as essential businesses, which led many shoppers to discover the value-priced one-stop-shops—and these shoppers have been coming back ever since,” Placer.ai said.
Dollar Stores Expanding
Dollar General has announced 1,102 planned store openings for 2022. In March, the company said it plans to create 10,000 new jobs through expected new stores and distribution centers. It also plans to expand internationally for the first time via new store openings in Mexico by the end of fiscal 2022.The latest data comes as experts increasingly believe the Federal Reserve will likely raise the benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points at the July Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting in an effort to bring inflation down.
“For a lot of people, right now, they are in a recession because they’re just trying to survive with just buying gas and making their house payments, rent payments,” Jelinek said.
Despite concerns over increased prices, Biden administration officials say that consumer spending is still robust and Americans are still tapping into their savings, which could help stave off a recession in the near future.