Jeez, you would think that Dollar General's real estate holdings across the United States have to be approaching Catholic Church levels? Every other week, it seems a new Dollar General store is under construction in an unexpected neighborhood location.

I wrote an article back in January after "Dollar General - Coming Soon" signs were posted in Waterbury's West End at the site of their newest store, which is officially located at the newly constructed 1005 Chase Parkway. The building and surrounding parking lot took about 2-3 months to flesh out. Now, as of last Wednesday, April 28, 2021, the city's 6th Dollar General is now open for business.

Photo by Mrs. Large
Photo by Mrs. Large
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The photo above is one that Mrs. Large snapped back in January, it's to give you an idea of where the new store is located. It's basically sandwiched between the Leveer Cancer Center, and the Citgo station, on the opposite side of Chase Parkway from Spartan's and the Liquor Store. We stopped into the new Dollar General store on Sunday, after I drove by and noticed that the parking lot was filled with cars. It's a new layout inside, as compared to the Dollar General on Fairfield Avenue in the City's Town Plot neighborhood. Fresh produce greets you as you walk inside, and the entire right side of the store is filled with groceries. It's very much like a mini-Target.

Photo by Large "Jimmy Olsen" Dave
Photo by Large "Jimmy Olsen" Dave
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On a sad note, I just got a text from Mrs. Large about a local breakfast and lunch institution that has suddenly closed one of their locations for good.

Photo by Mrs. Large
Photo by Mrs. Large
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Chubba's, which was located in the Middlebury Edge Medical Building at 1625 Straits Turnpike in Middlebury, has closed permanently as of last Friday, April 30, 2021. Chubba's two other locations, in Watertown, and Thomaston, are still up and running. The business changed hands recently, one of my dear old friends, Angelo Pelosi sold the business that he started over 20 years ago to new owners.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

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