FAMILY DOLLAR
The Family Dollar is right next door to the Tops grocery store, both of which are at the foot of the hill leading up to the Attican Motel. The first time our group went into the Family Dollar was interesting. Allie was surprised that there was lots of clothing and bedding in the store. The population of the town is majority White but the selection of products advertised with/for black people, especially for their hair was present. The question that arose was Who is buying these items? Anyone? An assumption of who are the individuals that’s purchasing these products could be family members that are visiting people in the prison.
The second visit to the Family Dollar. The Family Dollar is right next door to the Tops grocery store, both of which are at the foot of the hill leading up to the Attican Motel. I went into Family Dollar alone, while Sadyn had a conversation at the car dealership and the other two waited in the car, intending to take some pictures for Winston. Once inside, I took some photos of the hair and beauty products aisle as we had noticed early in the semester the specifically black hair products available for sale. We were curious about this, as Attica is almost entirely a white down, with the primary population of people of color being those who live within the prison. Our presumption was that there hair and beauty products were there for the visiting family members of the prisoners, who stay at the motel up the hill. This was an assumption however and not something we could confirm.
I went and introduced myself as a student doing research on the town of Attica to the cashier, who was a young white women who appeared in her 20s. I asked if she has a moment to talk, as there were few other customers in the store at the time. I found out that she was raised in Attica, but moved away while in high school to the surrounding area (I like she said Batavia) but now commutes to the town to work at Family Dollar. I remarked on how close the Family Dollar is to the Motel, and asked what the most popular products they sell are. The cashier responded that specific to to the family members of the prisoners, the most popular things to buy are giant bags of tobacco and cigarette wrappers so prisoners can roll their own cigarettes. Apparently, this is allowed to be brought in but not actual packs of cigarettes. I was slightly confused by this, as the Federal Bureau of Prisons officially banned smoking and the possession of tobacco in any form by prisoners in 2014. After the final regulatory rule passes, prison guards still will be allowed to possess tobacco, but prisoners will be permitted to smoke “only for religious purposes.”
Family Dollar saw a profitable market in regards to selling to people who are visiting the prison but at what cost?
The store Family Dollar has been profiting from individuals who are visiting their family in the prison. The population for the town consist of majority White, but yet we see Black hair products that are in the store. Selling clothing items in this store and having the items as soon as you walk into the store, shows that they want to appeal to individuals who are visiting their loved ones in the prison. This shows an angle of how certain stores, utilize towns that are neighboring a prison.
