Dollar General Growing!

Dollar General is expanding locations but not without controversy.

Walmart and Kroger are the largest retail grocers in the United States. When they leave a community, they leave an impact. Not only a ghost box store but within five miles, other businesses close up shop and it leaves food deserts and vacancy lots.

Tennessee based discount store, Dollar General is expanding and it moving into territories where major grocers left. The company is based in Goodlettsville, a suburb of Nashville.

There are nearly 20,000 stores in the U.S. and it seems like Dollar General will build or occupy old grocery and pharmacy properties. They are sprouting up like 7-Eleven locations. 

They plan on opening up 1,100 stores this year alone. They will close their classic stores.

Classic stores are locations inside a shopping center or an insignificant structure location.

Many Dollar General stores are now offering produce, fresh meat and alcoholic beverages at some of their locations.

In Ohio, the State Auditor Keith Fabor and Attorney General Dave Yost have sued Dollar General for deceptive pricing at stores in Dayton, Columbus, Toledo and Cleveland.

Several locations are closing at least temporarily. 

“[They] are shutting down to re-tag all their shelf prices — exactly the reason we sued them,” Yost wrote on Twitter. “Glad to see this first step — but we are going to insist on the court order to enforce continued compliance with Ohio’s market fairness laws.”

“Dollar General closed select stores this morning to address an overnight systems error,” a spokesperson wrote. “This issue has been resolved and all impacted stores are now open to continue serving our customers. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

Yost’s lawsuit preceding the store closures focused on what he called deceptive pricing practices at Dollar General. With 12 different consumer complaints in hand, his office accused the company’s stores of listing items at a certain price on shelves, but sometimes charging more or double at the register. Franklin County Auditor Michael Stinziano took legal action of his own in December after Yost sued the month prior. His inspectors found pricing discrepancies at eight out of 10 stores checked, and placed stickers warning of overcharging on their cash registers.

The Dollar General corporate office and its legal team responded on Jan. 9 with a motion to dismiss the lawsuit from the state. Court records show Dollar General followed up with a repeated motion to dismiss on Thursday, and claimed the state showed no proof with its accusations. Further, the defense added that overcharging at its stores is actually legal.

Dayton is No. 2 city in the state for food deserts. Youngstown is the No. 1 city in the state for food deserts.