Operators of dollar stores and small box discount retail will have to allow for greater distances from one another in the future if they are opening a location in Henry County.

The south metro Atlanta community recently updated its zoning to require small box discount stores be separated by five miles or 26,400 feet to avoid over-concentration.

Henry defines small box discount retailers as stores with footprints smaller than 15,000 square feet and whose goods primarily sell for $10 or less.

The move comes as communities all over metro Atlanta push back on the growth of dollar stores, including moratoriums on their construction in cities in Clayton County. Stockbridge last July required they be separated by at least one mile.

Like Stockbridge, Henry’s new zoning requirements for small box retailers and dollar stores do not apply to drug stores or convenience stores.

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