Retailers around the country are shuttering stores — a list that ranges from Toys R Us, which just announced it’s closing or selling all its U.S. locations, to brands including Footlocker, J. Crew and Macy’s that are shrinking their brick-and-mortar operations. But one retailer — Dollar General — is doing just the opposite. The discount store has opened more stores than ever before, with more than 5,000 new locations across the U.S. since 2010. It now has more than 14 thousand stores in the country — or just about as many as McDonald’s. It's opening up stores in parts of the country that were slow to rebound from the recession —low income, rural communities that larger retailers won't touch — and they're making a lot of money doing it.
VICE News traveled to Kansas, where the rise of the discount store has spurred the fall of another, arguably more crucial type of establishment: small, local grocery stores.