A small area of our beloved Elon is zoned as a village center district. That sounds quaint, but the commercial development provisions of that designation resulted in the Amherst County Planning Commission approving the construction of a Dollar General in Elon. A Dollar General store is anything but quaint and will certainly negatively affect the character, the feel, the integrity of our community.

Dollar General is a huge corporation whose unattractive stores sell merchandise cheaply because of the ability to buy in huge quantities, an advantage that local businesses do not have. And, unlike money generated by locally owned businesses whose revenues mostly circulate in and support our community, most of Dollar General’s revenues go back to the corporation. A Dollar General is an ugly store that will damage our community’s character, generate money for a huge corporation, hurt local businesses, and probably pave the way for more commercial development in Elon (unless we change the current zoning designation). There are also dangers inherent in constructing the store along a very busy stretch of Elon Road where sight distance is a problem. All these negatives are too big a price to pay for a few low paying jobs and very little money that stays here.

Please support this petition informing Todd Vasos, the CEO of Dollar General Corporation, that we love Elon, Virginia and do not want a Dollar General here. Dollar General’s corporate office is at 100 Mission Ridge, Goodlettsville, TN 37072 (615-855-4000; custsvc@dollargeneral.com)