Paradise exists: It’s a Dollar General in the mountains, open 24 hours a day with no lines and no mess.
The video revealing this unicorn came from creator @rachsullivan__, getting more than 2.4 million views in just a single day on the platform, going up Wednesday.
The video starts with the creator, husband and child in tow, saying, “Tom and I are at a Dollar General in the mountains right now.”
She goes on to show the husband scanning a credit card to get entry and asking for the receipt option, noting, “Open 24 hours, with no lines or checkouts, and you walk in and out, shop and go.”
Then, they shop, marveling at the technology around them as well as some of the choices they’re able to make.
@rachsullivan__ Is this the future of shopping ??
♬ original sound – Rach Sullivan
She comments on the cameras in the store, wonders about a Fruity Pebbles snack bar, and then reveals a haul gotten for a little more than $28, including a can of tuna that the creator is blithely snacking on.
Based on visuals shared in the video and observations from commenters, this Dollar General is located in Banner Elk, North Carolina.
Supermarket News reported on the store going cashless in a June article, writing, “The discount retailer has partnered with AI retail tech company AiFi to offer the cashierless technology.”
That article quoted a Dollar General rep, “Consistent with our ongoing strategy to continually look for new ways to meet our customers’ value and convenience needs, we recently piloted a store with frictionless technology.”
One commenter observed, “Cleanest DG I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen a DG that didn’t have boxes piled everywhere and like 1 employee to stock everything.”
Someone else remarked, “YES and you’re trying to walk and not die in every [aisle]!”
Another said, “It’s wild how it seems really cool and exciting until you think about what it really means for people in the future.”
Someone else thought the utopia was more of a dystopia, saying, “That’s not good, the store I mean. The first of a cashless society. Scary times ahead.”
Another opined, “People are going to have to start thinking really hard and out of the box because in a few years MILLIONS of jobs will be lost.”
Someone else predicted, “This will be in all stores soon and you will have 1 person outside and 1 inside. Person outside makes sure you get into the store correctly.”
But another person loved its aesthetic, saying, “I want to live where I have that type of dollar store. it looks like [a] cabin.”
And, with all this change, there’s still one reason that Dollar General shoppers go that seems to be in effect here: The prices, pure and simple.
“Anyone going to talk about how a bag of chips is only $3.50 here???” someone observed. “Inflation missed dollar general i guess.”
Update, Aug. 5, 7:44 a.m. CT: A Dollar General spokesperson responded to the Daily Dot’s request for comment, saying, “Consistent with our ongoing strategy to continually look for new ways to meet our customers’ value and convenience needs, we recently piloted a store with frictionless technology.”
