Dana Kendlin has been in the market for some travel-sized toiletry bottles. She could have got them at the drugstore that’s 20 feet from her house, but instead she went out of her way to drive to a Dollar Tree in East Baltimore. Kendlin even looked up prices before she came in. “I get paid Friday, so I'm trying to just limit the things that I buy until Friday.”She’s a single mom who works as a security officer. She keeps to a pretty strict budget, and said that shopping here helps.“I just feel relieved, I guess more so like I'm not really overspending on certain things,” she said.Kendlin is among the ranks of consumers who, pinched by inflation, are increasingly looking for good deals. Enter the dollar store.Dollar General reports earnings on Tuesday. The company already saw its stock jump last week after one of its rivals, Dollar Tree, reported a great first quarter; its comparable store sales were up 3.5%.Another advantage to dollar stores, besides the slew of bargains? They’re usually close to where people live, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jennifer Bartashus.“And so it's a very easy, quick place for people to stop and pick up a few essentials without having to drive a long distance,” she said — something that’s particularly attractive right now, with elevated gas prices. Bartashus added that dollar stores now offer a bigger assortment of items. Think things like craft supplies, tools, and graduation balloons. They’re also pulling in higher-income consumers looking for deals. “So the question will be for these chains going forward: How do they hang on to those higher-income households who are having the capacity to spend more when they're in the stores?” she said.And if discount retailers can get those big spenders to pop in more often, that certainly doesn’t hurt either.From May 2026: Why are wholesale clubs like Costco thriving in this economy?From March 2026: Discount retailers posted strong earnings in 2025, but expect sales to slowFrom December 2025: Strong dollar store sales reflect an increasingly K-shaped economyFrom March 2025: If you can’t afford the dollar store, where do you go?From April 2024: Why dollar stores are growing and dying all at once