What Dollar Stores and Walmart have in common

A report out of the Penn Capital Star reported on the Institute for Self-Reliance Panel that was recently held, and the quote is just five giant retail change now capture about half of all grocery sales. One company, Walmart, captures one out of every $4 that Americans spend on groceries. There was actually the newest member of the Federal Trade Commission who participated on the panel, as well as some other experts, and basically what they have said is Walmart super centers and dollar stores, because of the foods that they sell and the prices that they have, are really eliminating good, healthy alternatives for people who live in food deserts And when they don't have the issue of having full service supermarkets. What they also go out to point out that Walmart and others have reduced the amount of business that they're giving to small, independent farmers. They're looking for these huge farms that can fulfill their contracts, needless to say, but as a result, some of these small farmers are going out of business as well.

Sally: Yes, it is a problem that we as a society should be looking at. I agree, You know I also. Before I say what I'm about to say, I would like to point out that I am a fan of Walmart and their offerings as far as affordable produce and healthy selections. I really think that they do a great job with offering that to people at an in an affordable way. The issue here is when we see dollar stores coming in that are not offering healthy foods but crushing the independent grocer that is there. And, as you pointed out, Phil, with these big stores coming into these communities where these local farmers have relied on the contracts they have with independent grocers for for years and years and years, all of a sudden are losing those contracts and and that is their lifeline- It is, and we've really got to have that balance now.

Phil: National Grocers Association started running some advertisements talking about how these larger chains are putting independent grocers out of business. But we need a balance. We need a balance to your point of these large stores that can offer great prices, as well as independent stores, and while they can offer the right prices, they might be able to offer service or higher quality or more local. So we really need to, depending on where people live in the country, be able to have all these offerings there.