Dollar General to remodel 4,250 stores, open 575 stores in 2025; Q3 sales top Street
Dollar General’s third-quarter results took a hit as multiple hurricanes impacted its business, but it still managed to top sales estimates.
“We are pleased with our team’s execution in the third quarter, particularly in light of multiple hurricanes that impacted our business,” said Todd Vasos, CEO of Dollar General. “While we continue to operate in an environment where our core customer is financially constrained, we delivered same-store sales near the top end of our expectations for the quarter.”
Looking ahead, the discounter is planning a major increase in planned real estate projects for fiscal 2025 (ends Jan. 30, 2026), which includes opening approximately 575 new stores in the U.S. and up to 15 new stores in Mexico. It also plans to fully remodel approximately 2,000 stores as well as remodel approximately 2,250 stores through Project Elevate and relocate approximately 45 stores. In all, the company will execute about 4,885 real-estate projects.
“In particular, we are enthusiastic about Project Elevate, which introduces an incremental remodel initiative within our mature store base,” said Kelly Dilts, CFO of Dollar General. “This initiative is aimed at our mature stores that are not yet old enough to be part of the full remodel pipeline. We believe we will enhance the customer experience with a lighter-touch remodel, including customer-facing physical asset updates and planogram optimizations and expansions across the store.”
Net income totaled $196.5 million, or $0.89 a share, for the quarter ended Nov. 1, down from $276.2 million, or $1.26 a share, in the year-ago period. Analysts were expecting earnings per share of $0.94.
Net sales rose 5% to $10.2 billion, topping estimates of $10.1billion. Same-store sales rose 1.3%.
“Looking ahead, we are excited about our robust real estate plans for 2025,” Vasos said. “We believe our balance of new store growth and a significantly increased number of projects impacting our mature store base will further solidify Dollar General as an essential partner to communities in rural America, while strengthening our foundation to drive long-term sustainable growth and shareholder value.”
Dollar General slightly changed its full-year guidance to reflect hurricane-related costs. It now expects sales to rise 4.8% to 5.1%, compared with prior guidance of 4.7% to 5.3%.
During the third quarter, Dollar General opened 207 new stores, remodeled 434 stores, and relocated 27 stores. As of Nov. 1, 2024, the company operated 20,523 Dollar General, DG Market, DGX and Popshelf stores across the United States and Mi Súper Dollar General stores in Mexico.
