Dollar General Similar Companies, Competitors and Alternatives In 2023

Dollar General is a vast chain of stores that are quite popular in rural parts of the United States. In fact, there are over 18,000 Dollar General stores located throughout the continental US. The company usually deals in general merchandise like groceries, apparel, cleaning supplies, healthcare products, and beauty supplies, but it is different from wholesale companies. It was founded in 1939 by James Luther and Cal Turner. It is currently based in Goodlettsville, TN.

Name	Dollar General
Founded	1939
Headquarters	Goodlettsville, TN
SIC Code	5411
Status	Public, Independent Company
Industry Sector	Retail
Employees	158,000
Trading Symbol	NYSE: DG

How Dollar General makes Money

If you have visited Dollar General at least once, then you will know that it sells goods at heavily discounted prices. It may have made you wonder, how does the company make profits? If you don’t think it does, consider its staggering revenue of over $34 billion! The thing is, Dollar General cares more about saving money for the customer. It doesn’t really focus on other aspects of shopping, like the experience itself.

Additionally, Dollar General offers a variety of in-house brands for a number of products, the price margin of which they can control. Thus, the company ends up making a profit in the long run. Furthermore, reduced labor costs, supply chain savings (like UPS), and the limited number of brand offerings also contribute to their overall profits.

Retail / Discounted Goods

Dollar General offers many of its products at huge discounts. Its stores stock only those items that are popular in the locality. And since it mainly serves rural areas where people either have a set brand preference or nothing in particular at all, it makes exceptionally high profits. Dollar General also manufactures and sells private-label goods for a reasonable price.

Companies Similar to Dollar General

Dollar General is wildly popular in the idyllic regions of 47 states in the country. It studies the changing needs of every region to provide only those goods that are required by the local populace. It has been featured in the Fortune 500 twice, most recently in 2020. But still, if you wish to opt for other stores, then here are Dollar General’s top four competitors – Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, Target, and 99 Cents Only Stores.

Competitors to Dollar General

The biggest rivals to Dollar General are Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, Target, and 99 Cents Only Stores. Incidentally, Target features among many other reputable companies like Amazon. Let’s discuss Target and other companies similar to Dollar General in more detail.

Family Dollar

Family Dollar is a popular discount goods store chain in the US. It was established in 1959 by Leon Levine, who was just 21 years of age at the time. It is currently a subsidiary of Dollar Tree (which we will discuss in the next section). The business model of Family Dollar is similar to that of Dollar General. However, it is known to provide toiletries and consumables at a much better rate than Dollar General.

Retail / Discounted Goods

Family Dollar is one of the largest variety store chains in the US, with over 8000 outlets in almost all the states. It provides heavily discounted prices mainly for apparel and accessories, groceries, and home improvement products. The “dollar” in Family Dollar doesn’t imply that they sell their items for a buck. It simply denotes that their products carry low price tags.

Annual Revenue	Funding	Headquarters	Employees
$10.5B (before being acquired by Dollar Tree)	Undisclosed	Chesapeake, Virginia	60,000

Dollar Tree

Dollar Tree is a Fortune 500 company based in Chesapeake, Virginia. Apart from serving 48 states in the US, it also has operations in Canada. As mentioned before, it has another major variety store chain under its belt – Family Dollar – essentially making Dollar Tree one of the most profitable discount stores in the country. It also operates under the name, Dollar Bills.

Retail / Discounted Goods

Dollar Tree is the go-to store for many folks in rural towns to get their weekly or monthly shopping done. It offers everything you need, right from lip-smacking munchies to must-read books. The company was founded in 1953. It changed its business model quite a few times before finally settling for dollar goods in 1991.

Annual Revenue	Funding	Headquarters	Employees
$25.5B	$370M	Chesapeake, Virginia	193,100

Target

Target Corporation, simply called Target, is a megastore chain that operates primarily in the US and Canada. The discounted goods business model forms a small but substantial part of its operations. It is mainly known for its colossal department stores that offer a wide variety of goods, wider than any of the aforementioned chains.

Retail

As you might know, the retail industry is immeasurably vast. And Target ranks 8th in the industry in the country, which is a commendable feat. Despite having only 1931 stores throughout the US and Canada, it generates revenue of $106 billion, which is saying something. Indeed, Target is rapidly catching up to the likes of Walmart!

Annual Revenue	Funding	Headquarters	Employees
$106B	$80.35M	Minneapolis, MN	409,000

99 Cents Only Stores

As the name suggests, 99 Cents Only Stores offers its products for 99 cents, no more no less; or at least it used to. As the economy started growing at an alarming rate, it could no longer afford to sell at the said price tag, due to which it widened its range of products and increased the rates accordingly. However, you can still find many items retailing for 99 cents at their stores!

Retail / Discounted Goods

99 Cents Only Stores may no longer stock a considerable part of its products that retail for 99 cents, but it definitely offers its goods at amazingly discounted prices. You can find quite a few of its items that are cheaper than those at Dollar General!

Annual Revenue	Funding	Headquarters	Employees
$2B	$210M	Commerce, CA	17,000

Conclusion

Dollar General’s biggest competitor has to be Dollar Tree. If you had asked the same question about seven years ago, our answer would have been Family Dollar. But since Dollar Tree’s acquisition of the Family Dollar, which was one of their grandest moves, the company is slated to go head-to-head with Dollar General, and even overtake it, in a few years.