Dollar General is deep in the discount game

 They're raking in 31% profit margins on $1 plungers. [The Hustle]( Thur, Oct 19 Brought to you by [Grow]( Dollar stores are crushing it where Walmart can’t: small, rural American towns The tiny rural towns that dot America’s heartland have long been considered unprofitable by big retailers like Walmart. And another industry has capitalized on this neglect: dollar stores. In places like [Decatur, AR]( (population of 1,788), these stores have found a lucrative business peddling deeply-discounted, generic goods to economically disadvantaged communities. Dollar store economics The dollar store industry is dominated by two titans: Dollar General and Dollar Tree. Together, these chains have 27.5k locations in America -- more than CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens combined. Dollar General, the larger of the two, recently rolled out a $22B plan to open 1k new locations in lower-income, rural towns across the country. Why invest there? For starters, the average Dollar General only costs [$250k to open]( (compared to $15m for Walmart), which makes going after smaller, neglected markets feasible. While dollar stores have relatively low average sales ($229 per square foot, compared to the $325 industry average), their profit margins, at 31%, are far above average -- thanks to the extremely low input cost of their generic goods. Another reason: the poor communities they’re operating in [aren’t as likely]( to migrate to Amazon for their shopping trips. The average customer spends $10 per trip and prioritizes convenience and value over variety. The dark side Dollar stores thrive in periods of economic decline -- and since the US is [humming along]( at large, they’ve resorted to setting up shop in middle-America towns that have a history of struggling. On the one hand, these stores are adding convenience to people in food deserts (AKA, areas that don’t have any grocery stores nearby)…  But they’re also betting on a “permanent underclass” in America. As one real estate analyst tells [Bloomberg]( “It’s based on the concept that the jobs went away, and the jobs are never coming back, and that things aren’t going to get better in any of these places.” We’ve got a dollar, heyheyheyhey  For the low price of $1k, you can track someone’s location with mobile ads A team of researchers from the University of Washington has figured out just how easy it is to [exploit mobile advertising networks](. Turns out, with a little time and $1k, an ad-savvy “spy can track your location and learn specific details about you, like your sexual orientation, or the kinds of apps you have on your phone. The experiment Using an Android phone, the researchers created a mobile banner ad and a website that served as the landing page. Then, they spent $1k to place orders on side-platforms that allow ad buyers to specify ad criteria -- Facebook, Google AdWords, etc. From there, they set their tests to appear on the ad-supported calling and texting app Talkatone. Every time a target had Talkatone open near one of his set coordinates, the ad would appear on it, allowing researchers to determine where, when, and on which phone the ad had been shown. Okay. So what? Ad tech has progressed to a point where it is way too easy to rig -- and while society is frequently vocal about its fears of Google and Facebook spying on us, this is stuff that literally any advertiser worth his salt can pull off.  What this shows is that with some pretty standard ad-tech and a little bit of money, anyone can spy on anyone. [Pour one out for the good ol’ days](  Magic Leap has $5B worth of potential… and still no product “Mixed reality” startup Magic Leap has officially closed a [massive $502m round]( of funding led by Singapore’s state-owned fund Temasek, putting their post-funding valuation at about $5B. Which is funny… because they still don’t have a working prototype. Kinda makes you wonder what they did with the other $1.4B The Florida-based company raised $794m about a year and a half ago, putting their total backing at [$1.4B -- prior to this round](. But all the investor optimism in the world can’t make up for the fact that they have yet to share even an estimated launch date with the public. Meanwhile, [incriminating exposés]( suggest that Magic Leap’s demo videos, which depict things like a whale breaching in a gymnasium, wildly exaggerated their technical capabilities (the prototype required a fancy projector the size of a refrigerator). And even if they do manage to work out the kinks… There’s no guarantee anyone will actually want it Augmented reality is an untested market: so far [consumers have been hesitant]( to shell out big bucks for Oculus’ virtual reality headset, and there’s no guarantee that Magic Leap would fair much better. Either way, they’ve been climbing the ladder to the high dive for about 6 years now -- and whether they swan dive, or do a big ol’ belly flop, it’s gonna be a whale of a business tale. [Seriously, what happened to the other $1.4B?](  Why it’s way easier to focus in a coffee shop than your open-office According to recent studies examining the effects of sound on the brain, coffee shops are [a better place to get work done]( than your cubicle or trendy open-office. Typically, the #1 [complaint]( with open or cubicle-filled offices is the unwanted noise. But new research suggests that some level of background noise is actually beneficial to a person’s creativity. So get (moderately) noisy people According to a [study]( published in the Journal of Consumer Research, the right level of ambient noise triggers our minds to think more creatively. In [another study]( researchers used frontal lobe electroencephalographic (EEG) machines to study the brain waves of participants as they completed tests of creativity while exposed to various sound environments. So how does this show that coffee shops are better than open offices? Researchers found that while technically quieter, when there are only a few conversations happening in your office at a time, it’s actually easier to get distracted by them. And the face-to-face interactions, conversations, and other disruptions people tend to encounter in open offices negatively affect the creative process. Finding the ideal space for focused work isn’t about freedom from noise but about freedom from interruption. If you can find a space (like a coffee shop) that you can hide away in, no matter how noisy it is, that space should be your best bet to get some work done. Sorry, boiss. *said in an exaggerated Brooklyn accent* [Find your zone, people](   things you should... DRESS: Your dog in a dinosaur costume, $17 Yep, that’s right, doggy dinosaur costume. Hilarious? Yes. Cruel? Maybe. But hey, Halloween’s coming up, and it’s time to get your priorities in order. So act now. This bad boy is in stock and ready to rock. [BEST COSTUME GOES TO… →]( WATCH: Requiem for the American Dream $4 In this 2015 doc, Noam Chomsky lays out his theory for exactly how America’s wealth and power came to be concentrated in the hands of a select few. Brace yourselves for a wild ride. ($3.99 on Amazon, free on Netflix.) [CLASSIC CHOMSKY →]( HEAR: Music better, through these wireless headphones $39.95 Sam’s been on the hunt for the perfect wireless, over-ear headphones -- and he’s convinced he’s found them (and made us all try them on to prove it). Photiv’s Bluetooth headphones are top-quality, for way less than the Airpods. [AIR GUITAR FREELY →]( IMPROVE: Yourself while you work, with Ergodriven’s Topo Mat, $99 Sitting at a desk all day can wreak havoc on your joints and posture -- but when used wrong, traditional standing desks are just as uncomfortable. Ergodriven’s mats are built with cushioned, varied terrain that encourages movement and reduces fatigue -- so by Friday you feel healthy, not haggard. [KEEP YOUR PUPPIES FROM BARKIN' →]( AGE: Like wine not milk, with Basis, $1.32/day You’ve probably never heard of NAD+ -- but doctors and TED-talking scientists are all about it. That’s because smart people who understand science a lot better than we do know that it makes aging suck way less. Elysium’s supplement, Basis, is a proven way to increase NAD+ -- and support your bod long-term. [DO YOU EVEN LIVE, BRO? →]( This edition of The Hustle was brought to you by “What’s THE most important metric on my business?” If you had to show one number to your stakeholders, would you know what it is? And if so, could you even find it? Or would you have to sort through 4 different revenue sheets before having Brad the intern put together a chart in Excel for you? When the CEO of Chatbooks, Nate Quigley, is asked this question, he knows exactly what that metric is, where to find it, and why it matters to his business. He streamlines all his data with [Grow]( Their [data analytics platform]( gives Nate and his employees full confidence and clarity on what their business priorities are now -- and how they might change in the future. Grow’s dashboard pulls data from over [150+ integrated applications]( and synthesizes them in one location, with clear, easy-to-understand visuals. And the best part? [It’s only $199](. That’s less than the cost of your team’s Friday lunches. Sign up for a [15 minute Grow demo]( and start making sense of your data.  0 [SHARE THE HUSTLE]( REFERRALS Lindsey Quinn MANAGING EDITOR Zack Crockett WRITER Wes Schlagenhauf WRITER Sam "On the grid" Parr EDITORIAL EAVESDROPPER Euripides Abs PERSONAL TRAINER [SUBSCRIBE]( [JOBS]( [ADVERTISE]( [EVENTS]( You opted in by signing up, attending an event, or through divine intervention. [771 CLEMENTINA STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103, UNITED STATES]( • [415.506.7210](tel:+1-415-506-7210) Never wanna hear from us again? Break our hearts and [unsubscribe](