(NEXSTAR) — Dollar General says it’s gearing up to open roughly 450 new stores over the next 12 months.
The dollar store giant shared last week that net sales had increased by nearly 5% through the third quarter of the 2025 fiscal year. More customers shopped at its stores, and it also squeezed more profit out of each $1 in sales that it made.
“We are especially pleased with the continued progress we are making against our key initiatives and are excited about the opportunities ahead of us at Dollar General, including the 2026 real estate growth plans we announced today,” CEO Todd Vasos said in Thursday’s release.
Over the last quarter, which ended in October, Dollar General said it opened 196 new stores and remodeled more than 1,100 stores through two initiatives. Another eight stores were “relocated.” Dollar General had previously expected to open about 575 new stores, remodel thousands more through “Project Renovate” or “Project Elevate,” and relocate about 45 stores through fiscal year 2025.
Come 2026, Dollar General expects to open about 450 new stores in the U.S., Thursday’s release explained. Thousands more will be remodeled, and nearly two dozen will be relocated, the company said.
While the company did not share where, exactly, the new stores would open, Vasos explained during the earnings call that they “will be predominantly in rural communities.” The stores are also expected to have larger footprints, which include “expanded cooler offerings and more health and beauty products.”
Earlier this year, Dollar General announced plans to close nearly 100 stores after a “store portfolio optimization review.” There was no indication in Thursday’s release that widespread store closures are planned in the coming months.
There are nearly 21,000 Dollar General locations in the U.S., some of which operate as DG Market, DGX, or pOpshelf stores.
A day after Dollar General’s earnings report was released, an updated consumer sentiment index from the University of Michigan showed U.S. consumers’ mood improved slightly this month, with worries about inflation easing a bit.
Expectations for year-ahead inflation dipped from 4.5% last month to 4.1%, the lowest level since January when President Trump returned to the White House and began imposing sweeping tariffs on imports from countries around the world.
Inflation has fallen from the highs reached in mid-2022 but remains stubbornly above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.