Dollar General (NYSE: DG) is a public company and the largest U.S. retailer by number of stores. It operates as a small-box discount chain focused on everyday essentials, primarily in rural and underserved markets.
Store Count
As of the end of fiscal 2025 (January 30, 2026), Dollar General operated 20,893 stores (including Dollar General, DG Market, DGX, and pOpshelf formats in the U.S., plus a small number of Mi Súper Dollar General stores in Mexico).
By early May 2026 the count reached about 21,055. Texas leads with nearly 2,000 stores, followed by North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (each over 1,000 in recent tallies). Stores exist in 48 U.S. states.
The company plans roughly 450 new U.S. stores (plus about 10 in Mexico) in fiscal 2026, along with thousands of remodels (Project Renovate and Project Elevate) and a smaller number of relocations. Growth has slowed from prior years’ higher openings as the company balances expansion with remodels and selective closures. Management has estimated roughly 11,000 additional potential U.S. opportunities remain.
Approximately 80% of stores serve towns of 20,000 or fewer people. About 75% of the U.S. population lives within five miles of a Dollar General.
Sales and Financial Snapshot
Fiscal 2025 net sales reached $42.7 billion, up about 5.2% year-over-year. Same-store sales rose 3.0%.
Average sales per store were roughly $2.05 million annually. Sales per square foot ran in the high $260s (around $269 in the latest full-year figures).
Product mix is heavily weighted toward consumables (roughly 80–82% of sales: food, paper, cleaning, health & beauty, etc.), with seasonal items (~10%), home products (~5%), and apparel (~3%). The typical basket is small (often around $15), supporting frequent “fill-in” trips.
Stores average about 7,500 square feet of selling space historically, with newer primary formats targeting ~8,500 square feet (some larger DG Market formats reach ~16,000 sq ft for expanded fresh/perishables). New stores target cash payback in about two years and average returns in the mid-teens (around 16–17%).
The company employs roughly 194,000 people. Market capitalization has fluctuated in the mid-$20 billions in recent 2026 trading.
Headquarters and Leadership
Home office: 100 Mission Ridge, Goodlettsville, Tennessee 37072 (Nashville area).
Founded in 1939 in Scottsville, Kentucky, as J.L. Turner and Son (a wholesale dry-goods business) by James Luther Turner and his son Cal Turner Sr. The first Dollar General store opened in 1955 under the concept that nothing cost more than a dollar. It went public in 1968, was taken private by KKR in a 2007 leveraged buyout, and returned to the public markets via IPO in 2009. Todd Vasos has been a long-serving CEO (with recent leadership transition notes in 2026 announcements).
How They Decide Where to Put Stores (and Density)
Dollar General prioritizes underserved rural and small-town markets with limited competition from big-box retailers. Key elements of the approach include:
- Demographic filters: Areas with roughly 3,000–4,000 households within a 3-mile radius; median household incomes often in the $40,000–$70,000 range (core customers skew lower-income; households under ~$30k–$40k represent a large share of business).
- Convenience and accessibility: High-traffic locations near major roads, easy vehicle/foot access, ample parking, freestanding or strong visibility sites. Preference for places where the nearest full-service grocery or big-box alternative may be several miles away.
- Competition and economics: Analysis of existing retail density, local sales potential, traffic patterns, zoning, and real-estate costs. The small-box, low-capex model works in markets too sparse for Walmart or traditional grocers. They accept some trade-area overlap/cannibalization to lock in good real estate and build density advantages.
- Data-driven process: Real estate team uses population trends, household data, competitor mapping, and site-specific due diligence. New stores are predominantly rural; the company has also expanded into select suburban and metro-edge locations over time.
They do not typically pack many stores into dense urban cores the way convenience chains might. Instead, the model is high store count through broad geographic coverage of smaller communities (one store often serves a modest trade area of a few miles). Density varies sharply by region—very high in parts of the South and Midwest, much lower in the Mountain West or California.
Other Key Points
- Formats and innovation: Traditional Dollar General stores, larger DG Market (more fresh/grocery), smaller DGX convenience-style, and pOpshelf (non-consumables focus; expansion paused for evaluation in recent periods). Ongoing investments in coolers, fresh produce (rolling out to more stores), remodels, and digital (app, delivery partnerships).
- Business model strengths: High convenience, value pricing (many $1 items plus private brands), lean operations, and resilience in lower-income/rural demand. Consumables focus provides relative stability.
- Challenges and recent context: Inventory management improvements, margin recovery efforts after earlier pressures, selective store closures in prior years (while still netting growth), and higher construction costs for new builds.
- International: Early-stage expansion into Mexico.
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Dollar General’s scale comes from systematically filling gaps left by larger-format retailers in smaller communities, combined with a simple, low-cost operating model that delivers solid returns on relatively modest capital investment per store. Official sources (investor.dollargeneral.com, SEC filings such as the 10-K/annual report for the fiscal year ended January 30, 2026, and earnings releases) are the best ongoing references for the latest numbers.
