Dollar General building $1.4 million distribution facility in Arkansas
- Dollar General is planning to open a 1.2 million-square-foot distribution center in North Little Rock, Arkansas, to meet the expansion plans of its fresh produce offering to Arkansas stores.
- Dollar General started selling produce in 12 of 16 stores in Little Rock, and the discount retailer operates 550 stores in Arkansas.
- Similar distribution sites are set to open in Aurora, Colorado, and Salem, Oregon.
Dollar General plans to open a 1.2 million-square-foot distribution center in North Little Rock, Arkansas, to meet the expansion plans of its fresh produce offering to Arkansas stores, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. The new $140 million distribution center is anticipated to open in April and will be neighbors with Amazon's open and Lowe's soon-to-be-operational distribution centers, the paper reported.
Last year, Dollar General started selling produce in 12 of 16 stores in Little Rock, and the discount retailer operates 550 stores in Arkansas. By January 2024, Dollar General plans to offer produce in more than 5,000 stores, which the retailer said will give the discount store chain more individual points of produce distribution than any other U.S. mass retailer or grocer. Dollar General offers fresh fruits and vegetables in nearly 3,900 stores and plans to offer produce in more than 10,000 total stores during the next several years as Retail Leader previously reported. Dollar General spokesperson told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the North Little Rock facility will store fresh items in addition to its traditional nonperishable items.
Earlier this year, Dollar General announced the construction had begun on the North Little Rock distribution center along with similar distribution sites in Aurora, Colorado, and Salem, Oregon. As Retail Leader previously reported, Dollar General expanded its supply chain in the U.S., opening new facilities in Nebraska, Georgia, Texas, South Carolina and New York. The discount retailer said the new Nebraska distribution center represented its first ground-up, dual distribution center, combining its traditional and DG Fresh supply chain networks, the latter focused on frozen and refrigerated products. The retailer currently operates 31 distribution centers, including traditional, DG Fresh and combination sites.
The discount retailer operates more than 19,000 Dollar General, DG Market, DGX and Pop Shelf stores across 47 states and Mi Súper Dollar General stores in Mexico. Dollar General has seen significant growth in recent years, and generated $37.8 billion in sales in fiscal year 2022. The retailer ranks No. 108 on the 2023 Fortune 500 List.