Local governments draw a correlation between food deserts and dollar store proliferation

In 2019, DeKalb County enacted a moratorium on the opening of dollar stores — or more specifically, SBDRs (small box discount retailers) — on the premise that the stores were contributing to the “food desert” phenomenon plaguing many low-income neighborhoods. Perhaps the very first such ordinance was put into law in Kansas City, Kansas in early 2016. Since then, similar bans have been taken up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mesquite, Texas, Cleveland, Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, and New Orleans.