I was surprised to learn that Dollar General stores and I have something important in common: We were both born in the same year - 1939.

Today, there are 17,388 Dollar General stores nationwide, including 745 in Pennsylvania, but there is still only one of me. The Pennsylvania locations have about 6,500 employees, while nationwide there are about 158,000, roughly 11% more than last year.

Dollar General stores are located in 46 states but not in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho or Montana, and there are none in our nation’s capital. As a publicly traded company, in 2020 it had net earnings of nearly $2 billion, up 67% from 2019, on sales of nearly $33.7 billion, up 22%.

The company reports that 75% of all Americans are within 5 miles of a Dollar General store.

Its mission statement is disarmingly simple: “We embrace substance and simplicity. Our mission is serving others, and we think our customers are best served when we keep it real and simple.”

Most of us don’t think of the implications of the proliferation of these ubiquitous dollar stores which dot our region. There are 16 Dollar General stores in or within a 30-mile radius of Lehighton and another 14 Family Dollar Stores and a few others of various names.

I am sure that at one time or another most of us have shopped at one of them. At 50 cents each, I do just about all of my greeting card purchases there. Yes, I am one of the disappearing breed who sends birthday, sympathy and get-well cards.

When it comes to dollar stores such as Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, etc., I have found there are two mindsets: Those who swear by them, and those who swear at them.

We have had two recent examples of where Dollar General is clearly not welcome - in Penn Forest Township and in Eldred Township, Monroe County.

In the Carbon County community, the Penn Forest Zoning and Hearing Board recently rejected by a 3-0 vote a developer’s request for a variance to locate a store at Route 534 and Old Stage Road.

The problem with the plan is that it does not meet the requirement for minimum lot width at the setback line. Because of its proximity to Old Stage Road, the developer - Albrightsville DG, a limited liability company located in Birmingham, Alabama - was compelled by the state Department of Transportation to have driveway access to this secondary road.

Nearby residents cheered the ruling, because they don’t want a Dollar General and all that goes with it in their backyard, claiming it does not complement the rural nature of the township. Although the proposed project is slated for a commercial zone, these residents say it does not belong in a largely residential neighborhood.

They are backed up by an online petition of about 700, which was given over to township officials and asked to be made part of the hearing proceedings.

The developer has several options. It can file an appeal with Carbon County Court; it can revise its plan to make it legal and conform to existing zoning regulations, or it can pack up its tent and try for a friendlier community. Residents, of course, are hoping for the latter.

Meanwhile in Eldred Township, residents raised a number of concerns about the plans to locate a store between 239 and 284 Kunkletown Road near County View Road. Residents are concerned about traffic patterns, the possibility of increased crime and its proposed proximity to a personal care home.

Township planners heard from Travis Martin of LIVIC Civil, an engineering firm in Bloomsburg, which submitted plans for the store.

One resident, Joseph Chillari, said he has counted six dollar stores within a 10-mile radius from this proposed site. He’s concerned that dollar stores are magnets for crime.

I was skeptical of such an allegation, but I’ve changed my tune after researching the claim. The New York Times and Pro Publica report that dollar store employees and customers are at a higher risk of being a target of robberies and shootings. Since 2017, the report said, dollar store chains have been linked to nearly 50 gun-related deaths. As best as I can tell through my research, however, none of the stores in our immediate area has been among these.

Not only is the proliferation of dollar stores an issue in rural communities, such as Penn Forest and Eldred, they have long been a problem in urban areas where critics contend that they snuff out competitors such as local grocery stores and replace offerings with less nutritional alternatives.

That has been the case in a number of major cities, including Philadelphia, where the number of dollar stores has now outpaced Wawas, the regional gas station chain. City and state officials claim that there are portions of the city that have become “food deserts,” which are in desperate need of a grocery store or two rather than another dollar store.

Dollar General expanded its offerings to include food about 20 years ago, and for many low-income families these stores have become the “go-to” location for their food purchases. The problem, according to nutrition specialists, is that the dollar stores do not offer the fresh fruits and vegetables of traditional grocery stores. As a result, healthy eating habits are traded off for less nutritious food loaded with preservatives.

Dollar General has grown into this massive marketing powerhouse from really humble beginnings nearly 82 years ago where its origins took shape by a father-and-son team in Scottsville, Kentucky. Today the company is headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.