Dive Brief:

• Dollar General celebrated the opening of its 20,000th store on Saturday. The newest store, a DG Market, is located in Alice, Texas, in the southeastern part of the state. 
• “Today marks an incredible milestone in Dollar General’s history,” Steve Deckard, Dollar General’s executive vice president of store operations and development, said in a company announcement.
• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott commemorated the event with an official recognition. The retailer said it employs more than 17,500 Texans in stores, distribution centers and to help run its private transportation fleet.

Dive Insight:

Opening over 260 stores in Q3 helped push Dollar General’s sales up 2.4% to nearly $10 billion, although comparable sales fell 1.3%. The company said during its most recent earnings call that in 2024 it plans to add about 800 new stores, remodel 1,500 locations and relocate 85. The company is expected to report its Q4 and full-year earnings next month.

CEO Todd Vasos, who returned to lead the company in October, said during the call that the company saw “12,000 opportunities” to increase its brick-and-mortar presence in the continental United States. “We have always prided ourselves on being very quick and first to market to capture the majority and release the oversized portion of those 12,000 opportunities. So nothing yet stands in the way of that,” Vasos said to analysts, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. 

The first Dollar General store opened nearly 70 years ago in 1955 in Springfield, Kentucky. The company’s banners also include DGX, DG Market and Popshelf in the U.S. and Mi Súper Dollar General in Mexico. 

With 20,000 stores in operation, Dollar General has a larger store count than many of its rival retailers. Dollar Tree, which also owns Family Dollar, has about 16,600 stores. Walmart has about 5,200 stores; Target has nearly 2,000. And Five Below, which caters to teens and tweens, has over 1,500 stores.

And in January, Dollar General said it now offers fresh fruits and vegetables at more than 5,000 of its locations, which beats a goal it set last year.