Goodlettsville, TN-based Dollar General BB #:172794 is on a roll with perishables.
Following the completion of its DG Fresh initiative to self-distribute refrigerated and frozen, the company is moving forward with expanding fresh produce to another thousand stores in 2022, bringing the total number of stores with fresh produce to 3,000 of its expected 19,000-store footprint.
During its earnings call held Dec. 2, COO Jeff Owen said Dollar General doubled the number of stores with fresh produce in 2021, from 1,000 to 2,000.
“We also plan to add produce to approximately 1,000 additional stores next year, with the goal of ultimately expanding this offering to a total of up to 10,000 stores over time,” he said.
Dollar General recently opened its 18,000th store in the U.S., and announced plans to enter Mexico in 2022.
The initial plan is aggressive—10 stores concentrated on Northern Mexico, said CEO Todd Vasos.
“We started working on this well over a year ago, and it takes many years to cultivate this initiative,” he said, during the call. “It’ll open up as we continue to look at opportunities as we go, and then distribution-wise, stay tuned. We’re not ready to talk about all that. But, as you can imagine, before you start putting a lot of distribution centers in Mexico, we will need some more critical mass.”
Executives also discussed growing the company’s domestic footprint. Dollar General opened 1,050 stores in 2021 with another 1,000 new stores planned in 2022. While the company currently operates more than 18,000 stores in 47 states, that could just be the start.
“We estimate there are approximately 17,000 new store opportunities potentially available in the continental United States alone,” Vasos said.
