Dollar General

[TheFugitive]

The Dollar General in my neighborhood looks like literal sh*t.

(well, it did until this week at least, when it finally got a coat of new paint.
It's in an old Thrift Drug location that has probably not had a facelift since the 70's)

Looking that way did not at all deter it from doing over $3 mil./year in business
(one of my kids used to work there and confirmed the numbers).

[BillyGr]

The Dollar General in my neighborhood looks like literal sh*t.

(well, it did until this week at least, when it finally got a coat of new paint.
It's in an old Thrift Drug location that has probably not had a facelift since the 70's)

Looking that way did not at all deter it from doing over $3 mil./year in business
(one of my kids used to work there and confirmed the numbers).

Makes sense - there will always be those looking for the best deals who are more concerned with the prices than what the place looks like. 

[giantsfan2016]

Dollar General opened in The Lincoln Plaza on West Main Street in Meriden, CT. It replaced Family Dollar that became some other store with "Dollar in their name."

[JJBers]

No Dollar General in the Willimantic area...odd.

[giantsfan2016]

Dollar General is opening at 1724 Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike in Southington, CT in a couple weeks. The Grand Opening is tentatively set for June 30th.

[giantsfan2016]

Dollar General is opening at 1724 Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike in Southington, CT in a couple weeks. The Grand Opening is tentatively set for June 30th.

My Mom and I went to the new Dollar General today. It's nicer than the one on Divinity Street in Bristol. It's diagonal across the street from DQ Grill and Chill. Interestingly enough they are already building a second Dollar General in Southington. It's being built on Route 229 on the Bristol line next to the main campus of ESPN.

[giantsfan2016]

Dollar General is building a store from the ground up on Route 10 in Plainville, CT on the same side of the street as Family Dollar.

[retailisking]

https://www.pennlive.com/daily-buzz/2018/09/dollar_general_store_in_pa_is.html

[giantsfan2016]

Went to the new Dollar General at 2091 West Street (Route 229) in Southington near ESPN. It's nice, but smaller than the one they just opened in the Milldale section of Southington. I didn't have my phone with me, so I couldn't take a picture.

[Retail Regents]

Here is the one in West Winfield, NY. Located in the former Great American that closed earlier this year.

[TheFugitive]

Dollar General near my home finally got a full remodel.

Just as with the Aldi store across the street they went with all-black fixtures and a darker color scheme.
Personally I am not a fan of making ANY store darker.  They eliminated the one checkout that had a
supermarket-style conveyor belt and went with a checkout scheme more typical of DG stores (counter
facing the rear of the store, barricaded by a half-wall of pegged goods which steer the line around to wait
for the next available).  Personally I think that's an improvement as people jockeying for the one
with a belt (which was inexplicably right in front of the door) always did tend to cause a roadblock.

The refrigerated and frozen foods were greatly expanded, and now cover a full 1/3 of the outer perimeter.
Of course nearly everything except food has been moved to new locations within the store, which to me
is always disconcerting when it happens.

I'm somewhat amazed that it took them this long to do a remodel.  The store has long looked like a dump.
And according to my daughter who used to work there its an absolute gold mine.

[Brammy]

The small town of Wolcott, CT will be getting its second Dollar General in 2020. The owner of the property where Illusion's Dance Club used to be sold 1 acre of the property to Dollar General. This will be on the corner of Wolcott Road and North Street where the little house sat that was part of the Illusion's property.

[TheFugitive]

Dollar General seems to be experiencing some retrenchment here in the Pittsburgh area.

Their store in Mt. Lebanon, PA, near the high-school, closed recently.  This was an old
Rite Aid location that still bore the trademark diamond windows of their old store design.
It appears to have closed-up on short notice.  I have a co-worker who lives in Mt. Lebanon
who says that strangely the local residents felt that having a Dollar General in their
community was somehow beneath them. (Peronally I love living near one as they are very
convenient).

And their other store in a shopping plaza in nearby Bethel Park, PA has been "temporarily closed" for a couple of months.  I asked about this at another Dollar General store and was told that what started out as problems with the heating system has exploded into a full-blown dispute with the landlord.

[TheFugitive]

There was a fatal shooting at a Dollar General store in Pittsburgh on Monday.

https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/pittsburgh-allentown-east-warrington-avenue-shooting/

I know the area well.  It is not far from where I went to high-school.  Not a good part of town.

Interestingly that location was previously a Family Dollar which closed and Dollar General
took over the space.  Family Dollar is more known for setting up shop in tough neighborhoods.

[TheFugitive]

Dollar General seems to be experiencing some retrenchment here in the Pittsburgh area.

Their store in Mt. Lebanon, PA, near the high-school, closed recently.  This was an old
Rite Aid location that still bore the trademark diamond windows of their old store design.
It appears to have closed-up on short notice.  I have a co-worker who lives in Mt. Lebanon
who says that strangely the local residents felt that having a Dollar General in their
community was somehow beneath them. (Peronally I love living near one as they are very
convenient).

And their other store in a shopping plaza in nearby Bethel Park, PA has been "temporarily closed" for a couple of months.  I asked about this at another Dollar General store and was told that what started out as problems with the heating system has exploded into a full-blown dispute with the landlord.

Update on both:

The DG in the shopping center in Bethel Park has re-opened.  Apparently whatever disputes they were having with the landlord over their HVAC system have been resolved.

The one in Mt. Lebanon near the high-school has been demolished.  According to signage at the site a new branch of First National Bank of Hermitage, PA is going to be built on the site.

[TheFugitive]

Dollar General shares plummet nearly 25% on revised earnings estimates which drop their same stores sales growth forecast from 2%-2.7% to 1%-1.6%.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/dollar-general-s-shares-sink-as-its-financially-constrained-customers-feel-the-pinch/ar-AA1pEcZ6?ocid=BingNewsVerp

Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos blames the softer than expected performance on a slowing economy which has left their lower income customer base "feeling constrained".