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Heidi Wilson's avatar

Interesting analysis. However, I would like to know whether retail leakage in Fairlee, omitting Dollar Store sales, has risen or fallen since the store arrived. An additional shopping destination might bring extra visits to Fogg's, Chapman's, the hairdresser, etc. For the record, I shop at Dollar General only in moments of desperation, e.g., Chapman's closed and Christmas present must be wrapped and mailed, no paper left.... or when they have something no one else in town has.

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Chris Brimmer's avatar

A little background. When the Dollar General came to town Fairlee had absolutely no regulatory means to stop the development. The bylaw was woefully outdated, the electorate divided on whether there should be zoning in the first place, and there was a basic malsie in what was seen as a dying village.

At least DG coming to town focused the mind and began a dialog. We are now ten years out. We have a robust Town Plan, Unified Development Bylaw, an activated and educated Selectboard, local citizen groups which spouted eight years ago have matured into a force for community life. The Town now takes its future seriously and a real consensus supporting housing and scaled economic development.

As the planning professional in town a DG would not have been my druther to inspire this village renaissance but you use what you have at hand, this would not be the first town whose revitalization was trigged this way. The best is yet to come, we are beginning to see the fruits of a decade worth of study, planning and hard work.

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