New kind of dollar store to open on Elm St. in Greensboro

Monday, February 28, 2011
(Updated 10:32 am) By Donald W. Patterson
Staff Writer

Accompanying Photos

Lynn Hey (News & Record)

Photo Caption: Mitch Brown will open Downtown Dollar on South Elm Street in Greensboro.

GREENSBORO — Mitch Brown believes he’s taken a good idea and made it better.

Last year, the Winston-Salem entrepreneur decided he could improve on the dollar-store concept, which has grown increasingly popular in the aftermath of the recession.

“I wanted to take that model and transform it,” said Brown, who thought most dollar stores dirty, unorganized and not very customer friendly.”And I wanted to do it downtown.”

The result? Something he’s calling Downtown Dollar.

Brown plans to open his next Downtown Dollar store at 230-A S. Elm St. on April 1.

It will be his third. The others are in Winston-Salem and Grimesland near Greenville. True to the name, those are downtown stores as well.

Brown said most dollar stores turn up in strip centers.

“I wondered why Family Dollar and Dollar General didn’t put one downtown,” Brown said. “(But) loading docks are important to those guys.”

Brown said he’s gotten around that problem by having his merchandise delivered in smaller trucks.

Brown will stock items that can be found in most dollar stores — food, household products, hardware, baby needs, health and beauty aids, party supplies, toys, pet items and pharmaceuticals — plus services his competitors don’t supply.

Those include Internet access; DVD rentals; photo processing; balloons; bill-paying centers; fax, copy and print services; and lottery ticket sales.

“The hope is that (the store) is going to provide anybody that is downtown with an option that they don’t have right now,” said Jeremy Spidell, the owner of the space that Brown will lease. “Right now, there isn’t anything else where you can go in and get the type of products quickly and easily that they are going to offer.”

Brown said 85 percent of his merchandise will sell for $1; nothing will be over $1.50.

“People are pinching every penny they can,” he said. “That is one of the reasons I started this.”

Downtown officials say another retail store will be a welcome addition to the center city.

“They are targeting a bargain-oriented niche,” said Ed Wolverton, president and CEO of Downtown Greensboro Inc. “It’s also good to see it’s an operator with experience.”

Brown said his Greensboro store won’t be his last. His next location will be in Charlotte.

“We plan on growing,” said Brown, who also works as a representative with the Veterans Administration in Winston-Salem. “I’m still young.”

But Brown realizes that as his business grows he may have to give up his day job.

“I love what I’m doing,” he says of his work with the VA. “Eventually, I am going to have to get out of here.”