CNBC reports that Dollar General has unveiled a capital investment plan for the new fiscal year that includes the opening of 1,050 new sites and remodeling of 1,750 more.
Dollar General also plans to relocate some 100 stores.
As the retailer "adds, remodels and relocates stores," the story says, "it will increase the square footage of its sales floor to make more room for coolers of produce and fresh meat, a bigger assortment of health and beauty products and additional checkout lanes." The larger format started being tested last year, and Dollar General "found they outperformed the rest of the chain with higher sales. It already has some larger stores with a wider assortment of food and general merchandise."
In addition to these larger stores, Dollar General also plans to ramp up the expansion of its PopShelf banner, which "sells home decor, beauty items, cleaning supplies and party goods, with almost all items costing $5 or less. Its target customer has an annual household income ranging from $50,000 to $125,000 — higher than the $35,000 to $40,000 annual household income of a typical Dollar General customer."
The company currently is testing two of the stores in Nashville, but now plans to have as many as 50 running by the end of the year; the original plan was for 30.
And, the story says, "Dollar General will kick off a pilot that blends together its namesake brand and Popshelf … At 25 stores, customers will see signs for both labels at the entrance. Inside, Popshelf will be prominently featured in the center as a store-in-store."
- KC's View:
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Seems to me that it is noteworthy that Dollar General, which has an ambitious enough expansion plan that it could just be focused on a largely real estate play, also is investing in new and evolving formats that stretch the company in new directions.
To build on something we were talking about here yesterday, it is critical to have vision in addition to resources and size. That's certainly what the folks at Dollar General seem to have.
