From CNBC, a story about how Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos says that "the retailer is chasing business opportunities in health care for a simple reason: About 65% of the company’s stores are located in 'health deserts.'
"That translates to more than 10,000 stores — including many in rural areas and small towns — where customers must drive long distances to get medical care, Vasos said.
He said the retailer is in a prime position to change that … In July, the deep discounter said that it had hired its first chief medical officer and planned to add more health-related items to shelves, from dental supplies to cold and cough medication."
While specifics about what a health-oriented model would look like, Vasos tells CNBC that "we really have an opportunity to grow that health-care side of the business — not only products in the store, but services … “There’s as many if not more health/medical deserts in rural America as there are food deserts. We believe we have the ability to service the consumer in a lot of these instances where she today has to drive 30, 40 minutes to get basic health care."
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Factor this new interest into Dollar general's enormous growth numbers, and one can get a sense of exactly how impactful a strong health care focus could be.
