Store visits surge at Dollar General

The “dollar” or value retail sector is booming amid the pandemic. So is Best Buy.

Data from foot traffic analytics firm Placer.ai shows that retailers such as Dollar Tree and Dollar General are seeing just as many, if not more in-store customers than they were in 2019. And Best Buy is seeing customer foot traffic nearly at pre-pandemic levels.

While Walmart store visits were still down 13.1% year-over-year in July, Five Below and Dollar Tree were down just 2.9% and 2.7% respectively. Family Dollar was up 0.4%, but the true king of the space appears to be Dollar General, noted Placer.ai.  The discounter saw visits grow 17.1% year over year in July, after 14.0% and 13.2% growth in June and May respectively. 

“Each of the dollar store players had already returned to year-over-year growth by the week beginning August 3,” stated Ethan Chernofsky, VP marketing, Placer.ai. “With a high likelihood that the current period of economic uncertainty could extend deep into 2020 and even 2021, the ability to provide value should remain a very significant asset. 

In other findings, Best Buy’s foot traffic has almost completely recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Foot traffic at the retailer’s stores  was down only 0.9% year-over-year for the week of August 3 . 

“It is becoming increasingly clear that Best Buy’s position is uniquely strong,” Chernofsky said.