There are two types of business that thrive in the Shoals (Florence, Sheffield, Tuscumbia, and Muscle Shoals, Alabama) - check cashing places and dollar stores. The residents see this as progress - any time the storefronts are filled, even if it is with detritus, they get excited. But dollar stores and check-cashing establishments are the last gasps of a dying economy. You do not find those kinds of places in dynamic, growing areas.

The City of Florence has done nothing to stop the decline of the area. They spend millions on incentives for new business, thereby erasing most of the positive revenue that business can bring.

Dollar stores and check-cashers. These are the vultures that prey on the carcass of a town.