I’ve said several times New Ulm is unique.

Typically, that’s a good thing. A downtown mall. A daily newspaper. More Subways than McDonalds. More parks. More Germans. A full-scale brewery.

These are all great amenities in a town, especially for a town this size.

But this week, New Ulm distinguished itself in not so good way: it can’t support a Dollar General.

Frankly, this is unheard of. I’ve lived in a handful of small towns, most of which are smaller than New Ulm, and they all had a Dollar General. Some had two. One that was a hair bigger than New Ulm (population 18,000) actually had three.

However, this week we found out our singular Dollar General would be closing, a trend that is certainly … unique.

Brick and mortar retailers are feeling a pinch nationwide thanks to the proliferation of online shopping, especially on Amazon. Sears, Kmart and JCPenneys immediately come to mind as retailers who are greatly reducing their retail locations in big and small markets alike.

But Dollar General? “Value-added” stores, such as Dollar General, Dollar Tree, TJ Maxx, and Marshall’s are actually growing in today’s economy.

This week alone Dollar General announced they would be opening a new store in a small town in Louisiana, on South Padre Island, and a third one in Cove, Texas.

Ironically, as they closed one in New Ulm, they are fighting city officials in Orange Beach, Ala., as they attempt to open a fourth store in that Gulf Coast community.

So what went wrong in New Ulm?

An obvious answer would be the store’s location. Not only is it located on the south end of town, which is getting less and less traffic than the growing north side, but it is also in a somewhat secluded location where it isn’t exactly visible from the highway.

But it must be more than that. In Red Oak Iowa where I previously lived, the Dollar General there also suffered from a bad location, too far from the main highway to be easily seen. But instead of just closing it and leaving town, they built a brand spanking new store that was even bigger and in a great spot right on the highway.

I also can’t believe there’s too much competition in New Ulm for a Dollar General to thrive. Sure, there’s a Wal-Mart and a Dollar Tree, but that’s it. In that same community I just mentioned, they had a ShopKo and a K-Mart selling similar merchandise and it only had half the population of New Ulm.

While Dollar General’s decision to shutter its only New Ulm location may remain a mystery, it is a continuance of a troubling trend on the south side of town. First Pizza Ranch, then Target and now Dollar General has closed in less than 18 months while our largest business to open its doors, ALDI, located on the north side.

As a result, filling that vacant Target building becomes an even bigger priority for this community to stem this tide. If New Ulm wants to reach its full economic potential, it needs north, south and downtown thriving.

Achieving that would truly be unique.

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Gregory Orear is the publisher of The Journal. His award-winning weekly column, “What’s Going On,” has been published in four newspapers in three states for more than 20 years. He can be contacted at gorear@nujournal.com.