We visited Dollar Tree and Dollar General to see which was a better store — and the winner was...

A Dollar General opened up directly across the street (straight shot from their driveway to mine) from my farm, last year. I was surprised as could be. There isn't another retail business for almost a mile, and that's just a gas station that sells pogey bait and pizza on the side. The retail section of town (400 feet from end to end). is another mile down the road.

Hated that Dollar General was building there, until it opened. Now... love it. Last year my farm walk-in business for produce and deli-meats boomed. I've always produced more than I can sell and that the local food bank can hand out. I still provide the same amount to the food bank, and always will (my first fruits tithing). But on any given day, my excess harvest is gone by noon. The Dollar General Manager approached me about supplying firewood and during the high tourism months they sell about a face cord of campfire bundles a day. I sold about 1/4 that amount when I was selling it from my farm and about 1/2 of what I sold "walked off" with the people putting nothing in the honor box. Dollar General buys the wood outright, for only slight less than I was asking. Nothing walks off, from my point of view.

I also buy in bulk, and order two weeks in advance. I buy enough that they pre-pack all of my stuff on one roll-on roll-off cart at the distribution center, plus I can get items that they don't normally stock in store. I am right across the street and see the trucks pull in, if I am there to pick up my case lots before the truck pulls out, I get an additional 15% off. I now only have to make the 50 mile trek to Costco and Sam's Club every other month instead of every month.

That said, the Dollar General one town over is a filthy dive, with merchandise stacked in aisles so small that you can barely get one cart past another. They're owned by the same guy. The local store is bigger, cleaner, and has better employees. We now get customers who drive 15 miles even though they live right next to his old store. I think maybe he learned his lessons.

Net result, my personal expendable income rose by almost 60% with almost zero increase in effort.

I prefer Dollar Tree over Dollar General on certain items.

Without reading the article, I'd say D Gen is the winner