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Shopping at a dollar store doesn’t necessarily mean an individual or family is consuming a far less healthy diet. (Photo by refrina on Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
While foods bought at dollar stores are less healthy than those from other retailers, overall household diet quality for frequent dollar-store shoppers is only modestly lower than for non-users.<\/p>\n
In A Nutshell<\/p>\n Dollar stores\u2019 share of household calories nearly doubled between 2008 and 2020.<\/p>\n Dollar store foods score lower on nutrition than those from grocery or club stores.<\/p>\n Overall diets of frequent shoppers are only modestly less healthy than non-shoppers.<\/p>\n Higher use linked to female-headed, lower-income, rural, and non-Hispanic Black households.<\/p>\n BOSTON \u2014 When someone sees a family loading up on packaged foods at Dollar General, it may not tell the whole story about what they eat. A new national study suggests that households who regularly shop for food at dollar stores don\u2019t necessarily have drastically poorer diets. While these stores\u2019 offerings score lower on nutritional quality, families appear to balance those purchases with healthier items from other retailers.<\/p>\n Published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the research<\/a> analyzed more than 183,000 American households\u2019 grocery shopping data from 2008 to 2020 for calorie share trends, and a subsample of 76,520 households from 2017 to 2018 for diet quality scores<\/a>. The team compared purchases across store types using the Healthy Eating Index 2015 (HEI-2015), a USDA scoring system that rates foods on a 100-point scale based on federal dietary guidelines.<\/p>\n Dollar Store Food Sales Nearly Double in 12 Years<\/p>\n Dollar stores\u2019 share of household calories<\/a> nearly doubled from 3.4% in 2008 to 6.5% in 2020 \u2014 the fastest proportional growth (+88.4%) among all food retailers. Three major chains<\/a> \u2014 Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Family Dollar \u2014 now operate more than 37,000 U.S. stores, more than Starbucks<\/a>, Walmart, Target, and McDonald\u2019s combined.<\/p>\n Rather than replacing grocery shopping<\/a> entirely, many households use dollar stores alongside other food outlets. Purchases were tracked through a consumer panel that scanned barcodes on all packaged foods bought for home consumption across all retail channels.<\/p>\n A local Dollar General store and street sign, in the community of Bethlehem, NC. (Photo by J. Michael Jones on Shutterstock)<\/p>\n Dollar Store Foods Score Lower on Nutrition, But Impact on Overall Diet Is Modest<\/p>\n Foods from dollar stores scored an average of 38.4 on the HEI-2015 scale, compared with 49.7 for grocery stores and 50.9 for club stores such as Costco. Only drugstores (38.1) and convenience stores (37.9) scored lower.<\/p>\n These numbers reflect the kinds of foods available in each store type, not the habits of individual shoppers. A store that sells more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains will have a higher score; one that\u2019s heavy on salty snacks and sugary drinks<\/a> will have a lower score.<\/p>\n When the researchers examined overall household food purchases across all stores, the differences in HEI scores were smaller:<\/p>\n No dollar-store purchases: 50.5<\/p>\n Moderate use (0\u201310% of calories): 48.2<\/p>\n Substantial use (>10% of calories): 46.3<\/p>\n Although these differences are statistically significant, the authors note they are modest in magnitude, suggesting that many households may offset less nutritious dollar-store purchases<\/a> with healthier choices from other retailers.<\/p>\n Who Shops for Food at Dollar Stores Mos<\/p>\n The study found that certain demographic groups were more likely to purchase a higher share of their calories from dollar stores:<\/p>\n Female-headed households were more likely than male-headed households.<\/p>\n Rural households purchased a higher share than urban ones, with usage increasing steadily with rurality.<\/p>\n Non-Hispanic Black households had more than twice the odds of higher dollar-store calorie shares compared to non-Hispanic White households. Hispanic households also had higher usage rates.<\/p>\n Lower-income households purchased more from dollar stores, while higher income and higher education levels were associated with lower use.<\/p>\n Households with children, particularly younger children, tended to buy a smaller share of calories from dollar stores.<\/p>\n What This Means for Food Policy<\/p>\n One of the more intriguing aspects of the study is the idea that dollar-store shopping may be part of a broader food strategy. The authors point out that many low-income shoppers \u201cindicate that they use dollar stores strategically for this purpose, and also indicate a high level of satisfaction with their dollar store food purchasing experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n The strategy might look like this: pick up inexpensive staples, snacks, and packaged foods at a dollar store, and use the savings to buy fresh produce, dairy, or lean proteins<\/a> elsewhere.<\/p>\n The study can\u2019t prove that\u2019s what\u2019s happening \u2014 it\u2019s based on purchase records, not shoppers\u2019 intentions \u2014 but the modest differences in overall diet scores support the idea that households are mixing and matching to make the most of their food budgets.<\/p>\n Some local governments have pushed back against dollar store expansion, with\u00a0at least 25\u00a0adopting measures to limit new locations. The reasoning is often that these stores drive out traditional grocery stores and contribute to poor nutrition<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the authors caution that restrictions \u201cmay not be health-promoting\u201d if they\u2019re not paired with ways to make healthier foods affordable and accessible. If dollar stores disappear without alternatives, families may simply face higher prices for the same mix of foods \u2014 or have even fewer local shopping options.<\/p>\n The study has some limitations. The dataset covered about 60% of household food-at-home spending because it excluded \u201crandom-weight\u201d items like fresh produce and meats sold by the pound, categories where healthier foods are more common. That means the actual nutritional picture might be a bit better (or worse) than what the numbers show.<\/p>\n Also, the analysis is based on a panel of households willing to scan every food purchase, which might not perfectly represent the entire U.S. population \u2014 especially the youngest households, those with children, or the very lowest-income families.<\/p>\n Dollar store foods are, on average, less healthy than those from grocery or club stores. But this research shows that for many households, shopping at dollar stores doesn\u2019t automatically mean having a dramatically worse diet<\/a>. Instead, it may be part of a bigger strategy to stretch the food budget while still getting some healthier foods from other sources.<\/p>\n Paper Summary<\/p>\n Methodology<\/p>\n Researchers analyzed household shopping data from the Circana Consumer Network, a yearly nationwide panel of approximately 50,000 households that scan barcodes on all their food purchases. The study included 183,283 households from 2008-2020 for calorie analysis and 76,520 households from 2017-2018 for nutritional quality assessment using the Healthy Eating Index 2015. Households provided demographic information and were weighted to represent the U.S. population. The analysis excluded non-food items like alcohol and tobacco, and only included packaged foods with Universal Product Codes.<\/p>\n Results<\/p>\n Dollar stores increased their share of household food calories from 3.4% in 2008 to 6.5% in 2020, the fastest growth among all retail channels. Foods purchased at dollar stores scored lower on nutritional quality (38.4) compared to grocery stores (49.7) and club stores (50.9). However, households\u2019 overall diet quality showed only modest differences: those with no dollar store purchases scored 50.5, moderate users scored 48.2, and heavy users scored 46.3. Lower-income, rural, female-headed, and non-Hispanic Black households were more likely to purchase food from dollar stores.<\/p>\n Limitations<\/p>\n The analysis covered about 60% of household food-at-home expenditures in the Circana Consumer Network data, as it excluded random-weight items like fresh produce and meats, which lack barcode-linked calorie data. Some fresh foods may be underreported, and the panel may not perfectly represent all households \u2014 especially the youngest, those with children, or those with very low incomes who may find it harder to consistently scan purchases.<\/p>\n Funding and Disclosures<\/p>\n The study was supported by U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative Agreement (58-4000-0-0021) and a Tufts University Springboard award (M530868). The authors reported no potential conflicts of interest. The findings and conclusions represent the authors\u2019 views and should not be attributed to the USDA, U.S. Government, or Circana.<\/p>\n Publication Information<\/p>\n \u201cThe Healthfulness of Foods Purchased at Dollar Stores: Insights from Household Scanner Data from 2008 to 2020\u201d by Wenhui Feng, Elina T. Page, Bangyao Sun, and Sean B. Cash, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 2025.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jand.2025.07.001<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shopping at a dollar store doesn’t necessarily mean an individual or family is consuming a far less healthy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[8112,55352,97,13430,55353,269,17769,55354],"class_list":{"0":"post-78493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-diet","9":"tag-dollar-store","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthy-food","12":"tag-low-income","13":"tag-nutrition","14":"tag-processed-foods","15":"tag-unhealthy-diet"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Dollar-General-1200x750.jpg\"\/)
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