Dollar General Corp.

Mills Fleet Farm has ended its hunt for a CEO.   The Midwest retailer announced the appointment of Derick Prelle as president and CEO succeeding Wayne Sales, who has been serving as interim chief since January 2017. Sales was given the position following the departure of Duncan MacNaugton, who left to become president and COO of Family Dollar.   

Approximately 80% of low-income households will not opt for Amazon's new discounted Prime program.    That's according to a broadlines and hardlines retail report by Gordon Haskett Research Advisors analyst Chuck Grom, which looks at Amazon, Walmart, Dollar General and Dollar Tree as Amazon announced discounted Prime membership for those on federal assistance. Here are excerpts from Grom's report:   

Coinciding with its recently announced growth plan, Dollar General opened a new distribution center.    The new $100 million facility resides in Janesville, Wisconsin. It is the company’s 14th warehouse. The approximately 1 million-sq.-ft. depot, which began shipping merchandise in January, serves approximately 800 stores in nine states in the upper Midwest, and employs more than 500 employees. Along with more than 130 store locations in the state, Dollar General now has more than 1,300 employees in the state of Wisconsin.

Higher customer spending and lower advertising costs not only boosted Dollar General Corp.’s profits, but contributed to better-than-expected first quarter earnings.   For the period ended May 5, the discounter’s net sales increased by 6.5% to $5.61 billion, compared to $5.27 billion in first quarter 2016. Net income fell to $279.5 million, or $1.02 per share from $295.1 million, or $1.03 per share, a year earlier. However, this still beat the average analysts' estimate of $1 per share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Dollar General Corp. has added to its portfolio through an acquisition.    The Federal Trade Commission has approved the sale of 323 Dollar Express stores by Sycamore Partners to Dollar General, reported Reuters. The Dollar Express chain is made up of former Family Dollar stores that Family Dollar sold to Sycamore Partners in late 2015. Sycamore Partners bought the stores in 2015 when Dollar Tree sold the stores in order to win antitrust approval to buy the Family Dollar chain.   

The chief merchandising officer of Dollar General Corp. is retiring.   The retailer announced that James “Jim” W. Thorpe, executive VP and chief merchandising officer, will retire from Dollar General effective April 15, 2017. Dollar General said it has started a search for a successor and will consider both internal and external candidates for the job.  

Dollar General on Thursday reported better-than-expected fourth quarter sales and earnings and said it planned to raise compensation and increase training for store managers.   The discounter also said it plans to open approximately 1,000 stores and remodel or relocate 900 existing stores in fiscal 2017.   

No retailer is immune to theft — even discounters.   That’s why Dollar General has completed a speedy installation of an electronic article surveillance (EAS) solution from Checkpoint Systems chainwide.    The discounter began its journey by testing EAS pedestals and deactivation systems in a limited number of stores to determine the benefits of how visible EAS tagging deters shoplifting and protects high-theft inventory.   

Two big retail names, Dollar General and Abercrombie & Fitch, recently unveiled new store formats that differ dramatically from their traditional concepts. Here’s a look at their new initiatives:

Dollar General

One of the nation’s fastest-growing retailers is putting the focus on convenience, targeting a new demographic with a smaller-store concept called DGX.

Dollar General debuted the new format, which has 3,400 sq. ft. of selling space, in Nashville, Tenn. A second location is set to open in Raleigh, N.C.

Staying true to its recently announced growth plan, Dollar General is preparing to break ground on a new distribution center.