Three new Dollar General stores are popping up in Wayne County alone right now. In the U.S. the company plans to open more than 700 new stores.
There's usually a steady flow of shoppers in and out of the Dollar General in Waymart.
Near Honesdale, it's the same story. Many customers are looking for bargains.
"Everybody wants to buy cheap paper towels, for a dollar or whatever."
For a county of about 50,000 people, it's starting to look like Dollar Generals will be located in every shopping area in Wayne County. A former grocery store in Hawley is now being converted into a Dollar General.
It won't be long now and a Dollar General on Route 6 in Waymart will be open. There are two more under construction in both Hawley and Beach Lake, and one already open in Honesdale.
That makes a total of six stores in the county. The Dollar General in Beach Lake is on track to open sometime in August, and some folks don't think it's a good fit.
"One going up in Waymart, Hawley, they're all over the place. If you need one go to Honesdale," Kory Latourette of Beach Lake.
According to Mary Beth Wood, executive director of the Wayne Economic Development Corporation, one possible reason for more dollar stores is fewer higher paying jobs in Wayne County.
"The average person earns 80 percent of what average person across the state earns. We're not going to be looking for big ticket items," said Wood.
Wood says most people are employed in health care, retail, and hospitality in Wayne County, but those are lower paying jobs, perhaps leading to the growing number of dollar stores.
Some see more of these stores as a matter of convenience.
"I think people are a little more cautious, better with their money. If people weren't patronizing, how could they keep building them?" said Rachel Hedgelon of Beach Lake.
This doesn't just go for our area; Dollar General's website indicates that there are 12,000 stores in 43 states. That's nearly 300 per state.
