Rural America's struggle

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here are 14,321 Dollar General stores in America. It’s a chain that many shoppers have never heard of, yet it has more stores than Starbucks.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Dollar General company is worth $22 billion – far more than the nation’s largest grocery chain, Kroger, which has five times the revenue.

Sadly, however, Dollar General is thriving because, as the Journal puts it, “rural America is struggling.” The chain builds stores where folks are down on their luck, where 20 percent of customers receive government assistance, and where even Wal-Mart won’t bother doing business.