‘Basically nothing there anymore,’ cries shopper as Dollar General admits five stores will close in same city in days

DOLLAR General customers will have several fewer locations to shop from as five stores in the same city are set to shutter.

The New Orleans locations will close in just days, leaving residents in a food desert.

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Dollar General is slated to leave the east side of New Orleans, planning to close five stores in the area, per a local outlet .

Dollar General, one of the biggest discount chains in the US, has not officially announced the series of closures.

However, signs on the locations’ doors alert shoppers otherwise, indicating the slew of stores will close on August 14.

Many shoppers on Facebook suspected the closures were related to crime .

“Same reason they close in other areas, shoplifting makes it unprofitable. The criminals make it hard for people to have places to shop,” wrote one Dollar General customer.

“I’m sure it has a lot to do with the crime. Crime and danger in the store and in the area,” said another.

“Being someone who was born and raised in NO East, it saddens me to see basically nothing there anymore,” commented a third.

There are currently 11 Dollar General locations in New Orleans and over 600 in Louisiana .

The stores are situated in low-income neighborhoods with limited retail options.

Although the Dollar General stores are set to close, other grocery options include two Walmarts and one Winn-Dixie.

Residents and the advocate group Step Up Louisiana have called for the Dollar General stores to remain open.

If the five locations were to close, up to 50 employees would lose their jobs and New Orleans East would become a food desert.

Natori Green with the Broadmoor Improvement Association and the Broadmoor Food Pantry shared that higher numbers of residents are in need of food assistance.

“With grocery stores closing and food access dwindling, people have limited resources and they have to seek out pantries,” Green told local CBS affiliate WWL-TV .

Closing Dollar General locations

The five Dollar General stores on the chopping block are:

• 10600 Chef Menteur Highway
• 5700 Crowder Boulevard
• 6500 Downman Road
• 4515 Old Gentilly Road
• 11020 Morrison Road

She noted that the Dollar General closures could worsen the area’s food desert crisis.

“Having stores like Dollar General and the like be accessible is important because it is in closer walking distance,” she said.

LOOKING FORWARD

Councilman Eugene Green oversees a district where some Dollar General locations will close.

He encouraged residents to look on the bright side, noting that the vacant spaces could be used for other stores.

“Sometimes the market makes changes that inconvenience a lot of people but at the end of the day it’s an opportunity for those who want to see the type of business they want to see operated,” he told WWL-TV.

“For those who may want to use the spaces, create their own grocery stores, to build the businesses they want to see happen, to invest.”

Councilman Oliver Thomas, an advocate for investing in his district, also spoke out on the closures.

“Anytime businesses are closing families and jobs are affected,” he said.

“There has to be an effort by the city and our business community to help those families and market those locations for compatible uses.”

In related news, a Dollar General rival is set to close 300 stores – huge signs spell an ominous ending for customers.

Plus, a grocery chain with over 110 locations is closing a store but no one knows why.