“They’re opening faster than new Starbucks,” says Ryan Owens, a reporter on ABC’s Nightline — 500 new Family Dollar stores opened in 2012. See the full report here.

Family Dollar, Dollar Tree and Dollar General — all Fortune 500 companies, Owens says, — have been expanding while the rest of the economy has had rough time. Howard Levine, 53, is the CEO of Family Dollar, a chain that dates back to 1959 — his father founded it.

Recipe for success — no ads, small staff, cheap real estate and all in small towns. And it’s a family business — no kidding — read all about how Howard Levine‘s family started the company.

Pam Parker is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa. She is the mom of three, stepmom to three and step-grandmom to one.