City Council committee moves to rein in dollar stores

A City Council committee agreed Monday to tightly regulate new and expanding dollar stores in Chicago amid complaints that some of the 150 Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Dollar General and other dollar stores already in the city are poorly maintained crime magnets and a driving force behind food deserts.

After a spirited debate lasting nearly two hours, the City Council’s Committee on License and Consumer Protection, on a voice vote, approved the groundbreaking ordinance championed by Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th).

It would prohibit new or expanding “small-box retailers” from being within a mile of an existing store “owned or managed by the same controlling person.”

The only “no” votes were Ald. Felix Cardona Jr. (31st) and Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th).

The legislation defines small-box retailers as stores 4,000 to 17,500 square feet in floor area, and which continuously offer or advertise most of their inventory at less than $5 per item.

Under the law, these retailers would not include stores that have a prescription pharmacy or sell gasoline or diesel fuel. Also exempt are stores that dedicate more than 10% of their floor space to selling “fresh meats, poultry, seafood, dairy products or fresh fruits and produce.”

The ordinance would further require all small-box retailers with “one or more retail sales businesses with floor areas exceeding 4,000 square feet” to display customer service placards with the owner’s name, phone number and email address.

O’Shea represents a Far Southwest Side ward that’s home to four dollar stores, with a fifth poised to open soon.

He described overflowing garbage dumpsters and litter-strewn parking lots, broken fences and light fixtures and tipped-over shopping carts. He complained of “more unreturned phone calls from Dollar Tree than I can count.”

“This is not a struggling small business barely making ends meet in this post-pandemic world. ... This is a Fortune 200 company that has demonstrated absolutely no interest in being a good neighbor or being responsive to local government,” O’Shea told his colleagues.

O’Shea said the problem is “more complex than maintenance concerns.” Dollar stores rely heavily on “bulk purchasing and centralized distribution” that allow them to offer “extremely low prices” that undercut competitors and discourage grocers from opening.

Alderpersons were in virtual lockstep with O’Shea on the filthy conditions of most of Chicago’s dollar stores. It was the 1-mile radius that Villegas and Cardona opposed.

Cardona said he views dollar stores as a “one-stop shop” for people who just need to quickly pick up something they forgot at the grocery store, and he’s reluctant to deprive his constituents of an option they crave.

“The whole distance thing — I have an issue with that,” Cardona told O’Shea. “Let’s give it six months and see their behavior. Once we call them out, they start fixing things.”

Ald. David Moore (17th) said that dollar stores do “bring in some type of food, whatever it is, health or unhealthy.” With a 1-mile ban, Moore warned, residents will be left with “the local small grocery stores ... and we deal with the bad fresh fruits and all of that stuff.”

An attorney for Family Dollar objected to the zoning text in the proposed ordinance, saying that should be handled by the Council’s zoning committee.

Attorneys for Dollar Tree Stores Inc., which operates stores under that name as well as Family Dollar, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.