While there I was surprised to see the grocery coolers empty of meats and TV dinners. All that remained was a few bottles of milk.
I asked and was told they were changing over to beer and wine. Not just adding beer and wine as reported by Bloomberg but replacing many of the groceries with beer and wine:
"Our observations are that it’s still pretty tough out there,” Family Dollar Chief Executive Officer Howard Levine told analysts. “The low-end consumer has not benefited from this recovery at all, and I think has even slipped back.” He cited high heating bills from the past winter—an abnormally cold season practically everywhere—as hitting low-income Americans particularly hard."
And to think, there's folks in Greensboro who are against building a co-op grocery store in the same shopping center.
On a brighter note: perhaps Family Dollar will cut deep enough into the Phillips Ave alcohol sales to put the guys who trade beer and wine for food-stamps out of business.
