What, Precisely, is the Point?

This post relates to the prior entry in an obscure way; and also the general idea of Public [i.e., Customer] relations and good marketing strategy.

In the sense of:  "value."

I've been doing a great deal of looking for "value" lately, given my rather traumatic relocation circumstances.

This can be about buying a used car, or finding 'good stuff cheap.'

I've done well on what we might call 'higher end' or 'big ticket' items at one of the local chains of dollar stores.

However, in patronizing this chain [there are two locations in the city I'm now in alone, and several others in surrounding towns], something struck me when I went there for smaller and arguably 'more essential' elements such as food stuffs.

To me, when you go to a "dollar store" you expect a discounted price [and I mean by more than a few pennies] in comparison to what you would find in more traditional vendors of the product nearby the location of the dollar store you are shopping.

It struck me as I 'cased' the food aisle of the local dollar store:  it seems to me in the long-ago-and-far-away days when I was shopping grocery stores for food for myself [all of twelve weeks back and two towns away] that the prices at the grocery store were little if any higher than those at this particular dollar store for the same or at least very similar items; but in some cases [such as those non-frozen 'tv dinners] the prices at the dollar store were actually a few pennies HIGHER than what I remember paying last at the local grocery store.

And, in fact, having picked up a few for on-site lunches at my current on-site job, though I'm relying on memory I'm pretty sure that for that item my memory is fairly accurate.

Now, various things affect pricing and that includes that, counter-intuitively, stores in low-income neighborhoods tend to have higher prices than a location of the same chain
in a more affluent neighboring town might have [because of "shrinkage" due to high shoplifting rates], and I may have picked up my "prepared dinners" at the location halfway between here and the job site.

But I'm pretty sure I picked up at least one right here in town.

So, I'm wondering:  if the pricing is the same as, higher, or so minimal in cost from the actual grocery store down the street for these kinds of products, what is the point of categorizing oneself as a "dollar store"?

Another of life's little mysteries, I suppose.