Dollar General purchases former Walmart Express stores

[LM117]

Stumbled across this the other day. From July 27:

http://newscenter.dollargeneral.com/our-story/blog-posts/dollar-general-announces-purchase-of-41-former-walmart-express-stores.htm

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) announced today it has completed the purchase of 41 former Walmart Express locations across 11 states.  Dollar General anticipates relocating 40 existing Dollar General stores into the purchased sites by October 2016 and entering one new market as part of the purchase.  Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.   

"Dollar General is excited to add these locations to our existing store base.  We look forward to the opportunity to better serve our customers in these communities by continuing to provide the convenience and value they expect from Dollar General,"  said Todd Vasos, Dollar General's chief executive officer.

Communities served by the newly-relocated stores will enjoy a fresh DG16 layout with additional sales floor square feet, complete with expanded offerings such as fresh meat and produce, all designed to make shopping easier for customers.  Dollar General also intends to operate the fueling stations in 37 of these locations.

The acquisition includes the following stores previously operated under the Walmart Express banner:

City   State   Address
Ashford   AL   18 APPLE WAY
Gurley   AL   6361 HIGHWAY 72 EAST
New Hope   AL   10188 HIGHWAY 431 SOUTH
Coal Hill *   AR   1531 E HIGHWAY 64
Mulberry   AR   3500 MULBERRY HIGHWAY 64 W
Interlachen   FL   1113 S.R. 20
Alma   GA   1041 S US HIGHWAY 1
Ashburn   GA   155 WEST WASHINGTON AVENUE
Donalsonville   GA   907 MARIANNA HIGHWAY
Lakeland   GA   142 S. VALDOSTA ROAD
Pearson   GA   290 ALBANY AVENUE WEST
Pelham   GA   398 BARROW AVENUE SW
Columbus   KS   705 N HIGH SCHOOL AVENUE
Hillsboro   KS   605 ORCHARD DRIVE
Rose Hill   KS   120 WEST ROSEWOOD STREET
Clinton   LA   9181 HIGHWAY 67
Independence   LA   515 3RD STREET
Kentwood   LA   920 AVENUE G
Belmont   MS   410 2ND STREET
Calhoun City   MS   519 W VETERANS AVENUE
Mantachie   MS   2795 HIGHWAY 371 N
Nettleton   MS   7104 WILL ROBBINS HIGHWAY
Sardis   MS   420 E LEE STREET
Broadway   NC   112 N MAIN STREET
Carthage   NC   945 MONROE STREET
Coats   NC   511 N MCKINLEY STREET
Four Oaks   NC   6043 US HIGHWAY 301 S
Liberty   NC   632 W SWANNANOA AVENUE
Pikeville   NC   303 S. GOLDSBORO STREET
Princeton   NC   509 DR. DONNIE H. JONES BLVD W
Red Springs   NC   908 E. 4TH AVENUE
Richfield   NC   139 N HIGHWAY 49
Snow Hill   NC   905 SE 2ND STREET
Stedman   NC   7670 CLINTON RD
Yanceyville   NC   1593 NC HIGHWAY 86 N
Luther   OK   19250 E HIGHWAY 66
Okemah   OK   124 E. COLUMBIA STREET
Stroud   OK   1600 WEST HIGHWAY 66
Wewoka   OK   2325 SERAN DRIVE
Gray Court   SC   9032 HIGHWAY 14
Dover   TN   HIGHWAY 79

*- denotes a new Dollar General store location.  All other locations are relocations of existing Dollar General stores. 

Well, at least the buildings are being put to good use.

Having grew up in Fremont, NC 3 miles north of Pikeville, Dollar General could definitely use a better building. The current Dollar General in Pikeville is in a shitty building that used to be a Piggly Wiggly until it closed in early 2000.

[nexus73]

On Oregon's South Coast, we have two new ones (Lakeside, Brookings) and a third one being built in Port Orford.  The smaller towns they serve will benefit greatly from decent pricing and a nice selection.

Rick

[hbelkins]

Dollar General and Family Dollar both are expanding like crazy in this area. Dollar General, in particular, is buiilding a lot of stores in rural areas and smaller communities.

[US71]

The Mulberry store is within half a mile of I-40. I drove by a couple weeks ago and they had just barely started remodeling.

DG is building a new non-fuel store in Ft Smith, about a mile north of the store they built 5 years ago. Appears to be much larger, so I guess they'll be moving.


BTW: the first remodel from Wal-Mart Express to Harp's has opened in Gravette, AR. Two more are expected to open by the end of September. Harp's bought 9 WM Express stores in NW Arkansas and SW Missouri. Harp's is based in Springdale, AR

[LM117]

Dollar General and Family Dollar both are expanding like crazy in this area. Dollar General, in particular, is buiilding a lot of stores in rural areas and smaller communities.

Family Dollar tried expanding into Pikeville about 10 years ago when they built a brand new store next to the Food Lion parking lot along US-117. It didn't work out. They closed in 2012. Not many people cared for Family Dollar. The "new" building has been empty ever since. I remember when Dollar General first opened in Fremont along US-117 around 2004-2005, everybody went nuts. You'd think they just discovered electricity. I couldn't believe they opened in Fremont when there was already a Dollar General 3 MILES down US-117 in Pikeville.

[formulanone]

Did Wal-Mart originally build these stores in anticipation of competing with Family Dollar and Dollar General?

[LM117]

Did Wal-Mart originally build these stores in anticipation of competing with Family Dollar and Dollar General?

To my understanding, yes. Most, if not all, of their Express stores were built in rural small towns to attract customers that were not within a stones' throw of a Supercenter or Neighborhood Market. Overall, they failed miserably. They tried to take over Dollar General's territory and it backfired. I consider Family Dollar a step behind Dollar General.

Walmart's Neighborhood Market stores, on the other hand, seem to be much more successful. One just opened up in Danville at the corner of Piney Forest Road and Nor-Dan Drive last Thursday. I went there the following day and if I didn't know any better, I would've assumed it was Black Friday. It was hell.

[hbelkins]

Conversely, Dollar General is expanding its food offerings in most of its stores. I've found milk and egg prices to be very competitive.

Of course, I wandered into one of the few Dollar General stores in the area that doesn't have a cooler section (Prestonsburg, Ky., at the little shopping center at the northwest corner of the US 23/KY 114 interchange) looking for eggs on my way home the other day.

[LM117]

There's a Dollar General Market in Danville on US-29 Business/Piney Forest Road just north of the VA-41/Franklin Turnpike intersection that is pretty decent on their groceries. It's about the size of a Neighborhood Market and is much less crowded.

All the DG stores here (that I've been to) have a cooler section, but the one closest to me is on VA-41/Franklin Turnpike just outside of Danville city limits in the Mount Hermon area and I avoid that one when possible. The inside of that store is a disaster. The aisles are too narrow and stuff is usually strewn all over the floor. It's plain trashy. I know of at least 3 managers that have came and went. They all claimed they were gonna clean the place up and they never did. It's the only DG I've been to that was like that. The building itself is clean, but the layout (or lack thereof) is terrible.

[txstateends]

Meanwhile, many of the TX (and a few in LA) locations that were closed got snapped up by a Tyler grocery chain, Brookshire's.  They are reopening, a few at a time, with the name 'Spring Market' (www.springmarket.com).  The name comes from the street name where the first Brookshire's was located in Tyler.  Although the small-format Walmart stores had pharmacy sections, the Spring Market store replacements will not.  Another difference from the main chain of Brookshire's stores--the Spring Market locations won't accept Brookshire's 'Thank You' loyalty card; instead the company will promote every day low prices.  The news coverage of the acquisition wasn't clear as to whether Brookshire's will keep the gas pumps that were located in the parking lots of the former small-format Walmarts.  The TX ones nearest to the DFW area all carried the 'Neighborhood Market' name (rather than 'Express', what was planned before they opened), which likely muddied things up for those who were already familiar with the more prevalent larger Neighborhood Market locations.  It was almost like the company wouldn't think it would matter to most consumers that a Neighborhood Market might be perceived as only a certain size.  It will be interesting to see how Brookshire's approaches the merchandise mix of a Spring Market versus how Walmart attempted to position the Express/small-format stores.

[sparker]

So far, Dollar General hasn't made any moves to open stores in any of the many shuttered Walmart stores here in the Bay Area; they seem to be sticking to the smaller cities, mostly inland (there are only two of their stores within 30 miles of the coast -- in Salinas and Santa Rosa -- and the farthest west otherwise is in Antioch).  But they seem to have the Central Valley, as well as the Inland Empire in SoCal, well covered.  I guess they know their niche, and are sticking to it!  Besides, we've got pretty much saturation level of Dollar Tree stores around here, so I suppose DG doesn't see much use in butting heads with an extant local chain.  The vacant Walmarts (mostly older smaller facilities) will just go unoccupied.

[Scott5114]

Dollar General doesn't really compete with Dollar Tree so much. Most Dollar General merchandise sells for more than $1.

[sparker]

Dollar General doesn't really compete with Dollar Tree so much. Most Dollar General merchandise sells for more than $1.

Oh.  Didn't realize that; have only been in one Dollar General store, in Apple Valley, CA back in 2012 -- think I got a 2-liter bottle of something for a buck or so; didn't do much in the way of shopping there.  I guess DG is more of a general merchandise store (duh!), but the "dollar" part is just a catch phrase.  Oh well, live & learn! 

[LM117]

Not to mention that Dollar Tree stores are usually located in larger towns/cities. A friend of mine used to joke that you could stick an outhouse in the middle of nowhere and Walmart and Dollar General would race to see who could build a store beside it first.

[US71]

Dollar General doesn't really compete with Dollar Tree so much. Most Dollar General merchandise sells for more than $1.

$1 Stores used to brag about "everything is a dollar" vs the "other" stores calling themselves Dollar stores.

[Brandon]

Dollar General doesn't really compete with Dollar Tree so much. Most Dollar General merchandise sells for more than $1.

$1 Stores used to brag about "everything is a dollar" vs the "other" stores calling themselves Dollar stores.

Sort of how Five and Dimes used to sell everything for 5 cents or 10 cents.  Basically, Dollar General is the modern Woolworth's.

[amroad17]

Here in Northern Kentucky, there are many Dollar General and Family Dollar stores within a stone's throw of one another.

I remember when Dollar Tree's were called "Only $1.00."  I shopped at one where I used to live in Chesapeake, VA before they changed the name in the early 1990's.  And yes, everything was $1.00.

[ARMOURERERIC]

On NC 18 south of Morganton and down to the NC 27 Jct now has had a second DG open along that stretch with a 3rd planned.

[ixnay]

Not to mention that Dollar Tree stores are usually located in larger towns/cities.

There are also DT's in small towns like Chestertown, MD (which also has a DG and a Family Dollar [DG is more like FD than DT, but I still collectively call all three "the dollar stores"] and successfully fought off plans to build a Walmart distribution center, which was built 30 miles away in Smyrna, DE instead).

ixnay

[US71]

We have 3 DT's, 4 DG's , and 2 FD's, one of which moved about 6 months ago.  Neither FD has converted to DT yet.