Merchandise – Dollar General Newsroom (2024)

FAQs

What is the Dollar General controversy? ›

The discount retailer and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration reached the settlement to resolve alleged violations that included unsafe storage, blocked emergency exits and fire extinguishers, and inaccessible electrical panels.

Dollar General sells products from America's most-trusted brands such as Clorox, Energizer, Procter & Gamble, Hanes, Coca-Cola, Mars, Unilever, Nestle, Kimberly-Clark, Kellogg's, General Mills, and PepsiCo.

In an effort to cater to customers who want a more upscale shopping experience, Dollar General is opening retail locations that operate under a different brand. These stores are called pOpshelf, and they're meant to appeal to wealthier and more suburban customers.

How Dollar General's troubles have snowballed into cluttered aisles and stores forced to close by fire marshals. Dollar General workers say their hours have been cut, creating a mess of merchandise at stores. A shortage of person power makes it tough to unpack new merchandise and update inventory.

OSHA has accused Dollar General of repeatedly, sometimes willfully, exposing employees to needless risks—of being struck by falling products, electrocuted by unsafe equipment, sickened by poor pest control or trapped in a fire.

Rat infestations, blocked fire exits, expired kids' food, machete-wielding and watermelon-throwing shoppers and other nightmares at the biggest dollar chain in the US.

Dollar General Corporation is an American chain of discount stores headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. As of January 8, 2024, Dollar General operated 19,643 stores in the contiguous United States and Mexico.

In 2007, private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) acquired Dollar General in a leveraged buyout transaction for approximately $6.9 billion. During this period, the company faced significant financial challenges due to a heavy debt burden, declining sales, and increasing competition in the retail sector.

Dollar General's competitors and similar companies include Walgreens, Walmart, Family Dollar Stores, Dollar Tree and Target.

Dollar General started as a family-owned business called J.L. Turner in 1939. In 1968, the company changed its name to Dollar General and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Following the 2008 recession, Dollar General expanded rapidly, primarily in economically depressed areas.

What state has the most Dollar Generals? ›

As of June, 2024, there are 18912 Dollar General stores in the United States. These stores are located in 48 states and territories and 8008 cities. The state with the most Dollar General locations is Texas, with 1947 stores. This is about 10% of all Dollar General locations in the United States.

Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar in 2015 for over $8 billion after a bidding war with Dollar General, but Wednesday's earnings report signals difficulty in maintaining the value of both brands. A customer exits a Dollar Tree store holding a shopping bag, May 11, 2022, in Jackson, Miss.

Last year, Dollar General became the first employers to be listed by OSHA as a "severe violator" for repeatedly violating workplace regulations. The chain's stores have also been backdrops for robberies and gun violence.

Dollar General's crackdown is part of its plan to reduce inventory losses, including from shoplifting. "Shrink continues to be the most significant headwind in our business," Vasos said on the latest earnings call.

Dollar General reported second-quarter earnings below analysts' estimates and lowered its projections for the full year. CEO Todd Vasos said Dollar General is seeing a "core customer who feels financially constrained."

The first Dollar General store opened in Springfield, Ky. on June 1, 1955, and the concept was simple – no item in the store would cost more than one dollar. The idea became a huge success and other stores owned by J.L. Turner and his son Cal Turner Sr.

Dollar General has agreed to pay $12 million in penalties and improve safety at its nearly 20,000 stores across the U.S. after claims that the discount retailer put its employees in danger with its practices, the Labor Department said.

Communities pushing to block Dollar General have detailed their concerns about large budget chains forcing out full-service grocery stores with fresh produce in rural middle and low-income areas. There are also concerns about a lack of retail space, decreasing property values, and the creation of food deserts.