Businesses in your area “in the middle of nowhere?”

[fan-of-fans]

Are there any stores, restaurants or businesses in your area that are desolate or in the middle of nowhere seemingly?

Here we have a few. I live about 8 miles away from the downtown area, and they built a Dollar General right on the highway near my neighborhood. There were no water hydrant connections nearby, so they had to install two large water tanks in order to have a hydrant hookup. I believe they also have a well and septic system.

I can also think of a Ford dealership that’s pretty far out of its town. The original dealership was just on the far north end of that small town, but sometime in the late 80s it was shifted about 5 miles further north. There is really nothing along that stretch of highway but woods, and a nursery or two. As a kid the dealership’s logo was a drawing of a Model A, and they had a huge sign with a scrolling marquee that lit up, along with the Ford Model A logo on top, and that was quite the sight to see, coming around the curve from nothing and seeing this huge dealership!

There’s another neighborhood near me that’s very dense, but pretty far out of its town, and right in the middle of it is a gas station, and you guessed it, a Dollar General.

I know it’s not uncommon to have a Dollar General pretty far out, as their new model seems to take “General Store” literally, and have stores literally every 5 miles.

We also used to have a bait shop and boat repair place near my house, which too was pretty isolated. The bait shop used to be literally on the back porch of an old house! Then around 2005 or 06, thy demolished the house and built a huge new steel building for the shop. But they got in over their heads unfortunately, and being during the time of the recession, went out of business in the late 2000s. Actually, I think the original owners sold the business a year or two after constructing the new building, and then went bankrupt.

Anyway, that big building in middle of nowhere has been multiple thing since, including having perpetual auction and yard sales every weekend for a while, maybe to cover mortgage? Lol Not yet what it I now.

 

[qsd-dan]

If those businesses never close, they're fronts for money laundering.

 

[repairguy]

I agree Dan. There is a large gas station that was built about 10 years ago in between 2 towns about 30 minutes apart. There is a lot of concrete and the building is very large. In this time period I have never seen more than 2 vehicles there at one time.

 

[circlew]

There are five Dollar General stores within less than an 18 mile stretch of St. Rt. 28 in my area. One is about 5 miles east, and the others all to the west. One of them is a mile, then another at 8 miles, and two other locations at 10 and 12 miles. Those stores pop up like weeds in Spring.

As for restaurants, there are several within a few miles from here that are in sparsely populated areas. However, they are near state parks that are busy in warmer months.

The most famous business I've visited in an otherwise desolate location is Clines Corners on US 66 - I 40 at US 285 in New Mexico. It's located 60 miles west of Santa Rosa, and 60 miles east of Albuquerque. There is a gas station, restaurant, convenience store, gift shop, and RV park.

 

[combo52]

Dollar General stores, etc.

I can’t imagine any point in shopping in these stores. I’ve been in them two or three times in my life and it is just such garbage and the prices are not that good, I guess if you’re desperate for something and you live so far from a real store, people are forced to shop at them.

 

[maytag85]

Any store that has ‘Dollar’ in the name immediately translates to ‘expensive’ in my book. Sometimes, you may find a particular item in question that’s a good price, other times it’s just the same price if not more compared to another store that sells the same product etc.

Whole reason for dollar stores is they are just plain marketing, they want you to think you are going to get the best deals in the century but in reality, are completely abysmal.

 

[qsd-dan]

Never been in a Dollar Store. What do they sell?

 

[fan-of-fans]

Dollar stores

Dollar stores, like Dollar General and Family Dollar, sell mostly general merchandise.

Some automotive, stationery, toys, home decor, small appliances, greeting cards, clothing (mostly underwear and socks but some stores sell outerwear and shoes), cleaning supplies, groceries (used to be just dry goods, but most stores now sell refrigerated and frozen prepackaged foods, and newer stores sell fresh produce sometimes).

As alludes to above, dollar store is more of a misnomer as the pricing is usually not particularly competitive.
Although they do run sales, and will usually give coupons, like Dollar General gives $5 off $25 coupons, but they’re usually only valid on Saturday. Not sure about Family Dollar.

I usually only use these stores for quick purchase if I don’t want to drive further to bigger stores.

I think they mostly go on being convenient rather than competitive on price.

 

[qsd-dan]

Thank you very much for the in-depth reply, Cole.

 

[angus]

Family Dollar is similar to Dollar General - lots of junk, prices not great and stores are usually cramped and unkempt. Not worth the effort in my book.

 

[qsd-dan]

So, either these are gigantic money laundering fronts or large amounts of people are actually spending money in them. Or a combination of both.

 

[henene4]

My brother moved to a German city called "Euskirchen".
Miele has a factory there, but besides that, there's really only the military base my brother works at.
About 25k people, economically very much lower/middle class.

That town has about the same number of food delivery services and used car sales places as our home city Würzburg, which is 5 times as large.
And funny enough, you see like half the people driving Audis, BMWs and Mercedes.

It's been a running gag between us that the main business of that town is money laundering.

But jokes aside, there are a few businesses in odd places that can keep above water with very little traffic.
Especially space intensive things like used car dealers might be just fine if the property is owned.
Some restaurant and take out place aswell as daily shopping opportunities might flourish right along high traffic areas in and out of living areas.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

This is a record store in Hamtramck Michigan...

It is ion a bit of a suburban block after being housed in a couple downtown locations and one or both having to pay to park...

So naturally in that little nestle the business is minimal, and even when making the rounds at all my local record haunts, it's the one I seldom regularly include when I have too many time constrictions even when trawling around in that area...

The name of that establishment is Record Graveyard which began as Desirable Discs in Dearborn and had a Garden City location both I'd workec a few months at and maybe a Redford location which didn't last very long...

But the owner (and my once former boss with another who occasionally runs the store when he can't, though he easily lives upstairs) is in his 70's so supposedly it doesn't much matter whether he does any real work there or not as in taking any money if he's well enough to tun the place as a hobby...

When it was the old DD there was another partner who'd workec at the Dearborn location but nowwho's longed been ceased, and had been at a record store in Ferndale I'd used to go to all the time, the other occasional co-owner I don't even remember being there had also worked at...

So back to Record Graveyard, it in that location, which I often get asked by how he is doing by the owner of another recird store I go to and tell him, of which we both agree success doesn't matter, just the enjoyment (as his store is loaded with stuff hard to sell there no one probably also no matter how collectible/valuable wants to buy) has long been a graveyard, literally!

-- Dave

 

[polkanut]

The one business in my area that comes to mind as being kind of in the middle of nowhere is Brickner Motors in Little Chicago, WI which is located at the intersection of County Hwy A and State Hwy 107 about 11 miles northwest of town. They've been in business selling Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and formerly Plymouth vehicles at that location since 1945. They do one hell of a business with new & used car sales, service garage and body shop.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Took this picture along with my other photos of record having nots I go to with me there....

-- Dave

 

[tomturbomatic]

Feds Fine Family Dollar 41M for Rat Infestations

NBC News reports:

Family Dollar Stores was this week ordered to pay $41.6 million for using a rodent-infested warehouse to distribute food, cosmetics and medical devices to more than 400 stores across the South.

The largest criminal penalty of its kind comes after a U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation found “live rodents, dead and decaying rodents, rodent feces, urine, and odors, and evidence of gnawing and nesting,” at the company’s distribution center in West Memphis, Arkansas, the Justice Department said in a statement.

The company — which has 8,000 stores across 46 states and was bought by rival Dollar Tree in 2015 — pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of causing goods to be “adulterated while being held under insanitary conditions” at a federal court hearing in Little Rock on Monday

Feds Fine Family Dollar $41 Million For Rat Infestations - Joe.My.God.

NBC News reports: Family Dollar Stores was this week ordered to pay $41.6 million for using a rodent-infested warehouse to distribute food, cosmetics and medical devices to more than 400 stores across the South. The largest criminal penalty of its kind comes after a U.S. Food and Drug...

www.joemygod.com

 

[circlew]

Family Dollar stores are dumps. There's one about 8 blocks from here, but I've not been in it for over 5 years. Even the parking lot is dilapidated.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Downhill for just about every dollar/bargain store, with everything OVER $1 or a dollar or more UP!

 

Seldom bother going to any particularly one after its new ownership came with its new location was a lot less friendly...

 

And even refused to take back one gently-used item, a pot, I'd only filled with water and realized it was too big and wanted to swap it for a smaller one and still would have paid the difference...

 

But no one stopped to help me pick out which one was best for steaming my white castles in, but realized after this trial and error what was the right one and would fit in my dishwasher if any need--but still...

 

 

 

-- Dave

 

[tomturbomatic]

I read that the thermostats in the stores are not adjustable by the employees in some cases resulting in candles melting in their boxes.