Dollar General

Dollar General plans to enter three states

June 23rd, 2014

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. – Dollar General Corp. is moving into three new states — Maine, Rhode Island and Oregon — bringing to 43 the number of states with a Dollar General store.

Construction is to begin this fall on stores in the New England states. Expansion into the Pacific Northwest is slated for early next year.

The discount retailer, which operates 11,300 stores, says it continues to see opportunities in expansion. The dollar-store format has been growing faster than rival retail concepts during the fitful economic recovery.

Rick Dreiling, Dollar General’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a conference call with shareholders and analysts that he sees demand for another 14,000 dollar stores in the United States, up from the company’s previous estimate of 10,000 stores. "We continue to grow both our customer traffic and average transaction amount as our merchandising initiatives reinforce our affordability and value messaging," Dreiling said in announcing fiscal first quarter earnings.

He reiterated the company’s full-year earnings guidance on same-store sales growth of between 3% and 4%.