More Americans rely on dollar stores, but overall diet stays steady: Study

Dollar stores are reshaping how many Americans shop for groceries — offering low prices but often limited healthy options. A recent study from Tufts University and the USDA takes a closer look at what families are really buying at these stores, and how it affects their overall diet.

Published Monday in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the study said while dollar store items tend to be less nutritious, families often make up for this by purchasing healthier foods elsewhere.

“There are a lot of concerns that foods on dollar store shelves are less healthy, but what’s on the shelf does not equal what each household takes home,” Wenhui Feng, lead author and professor of health care policy research and public health, said. “Our study looks at how healthy the foods purchased in dollar stores are and compares that with the healthfulness of each household’s overall food purchases.”

What the study examined

According to researchers, the rise of dollar stores marks a major shift in the food retail landscape. Over the past decade, these stores have grown faster than any other kind of food retailer. Researchers analyzed nationwide data from 2008 to 2020, examining how much of households’ calories came from dollar stores and comparing the overall quality of their food purchases.

To evaluate diet quality, researchers combined household purchase data with the USDA’s Purchase to Plate Crosswalk tool, which helps estimate the nutritional value of foods based on what families buy.

The study included more than 180,000 households using their calorie data and more than 76,000 households for diet quality measurements. It accounted for factors like income, race and whether families lived in rural or urban areas.

Results show that calories purchased from dollar stores nearly doubled, rising from 3.4% in 2008 to 6.5% in 2020. Households that relied more heavily on dollar stores were more likely to have lower incomes, live in rural areas or belong to certain racial groups. The foods bought at dollar stores were generally less healthy than those from other retailers.

The study also found that families in rural areas, where grocery stores are often farther away, depend heavily on dollar stores for food, making these outlets a critical resource despite their limited healthy options.

Nutritional quality of dollar store purchases

Despite this, the overall diet quality of households was similar, whether or not they shopped at dollar stores. Average diet scores showed only moderate differences between heavy dollar store shoppers and those who rarely or never shopped there. This suggests that families often balance less nutritious purchases from dollar stores with healthier options from other sources.

There are other concerns

The study highlights concerns beyond nutrition, including the impact of dollar stores on local businesses and community safety, with reports of understaffing leading to security issues. More than 25 local governments have enacted policies to limit dollar store expansion, though researchers say it’s still unclear how effective these measures are.

Senior author Sean Cash of Tufts’ Friedman School notes that some shoppers use dollar stores mainly to buy sweets, snacks and packaged foods, often purchasing fewer of these items elsewhere. “We need more data on the real effects of dollar stores on healthy eating, as some communities may be putting the policy cart before the horse,” he said.