Dollar General wants to be more than just a cheap place to buy groceries and household staples.
The retailer has invested heavily in improving its stores. That’s perhaps not a direct response to a 2024 episode of “Last Week Tonight,” in which John Oliver highlighted the many problems in its stores, including significant labor issues.
Oliver went after comments made by CEO Todd Vasos, who explained that the chain does “very good” during good times, but “fabulous” in tougher times.
“Right, it’s a store that tends to do better when its customers are doing worse, which isn’t something that really requires use of the word fabulous,” Oliver said. “Fabulous is best used to describe a quirky hat, or the cast of the ‘Golden Bachelor,’… But a company bragging about how it can profit off financial hardship? Not so much.”
Vasos, who is retiring on Jan. 1, did not directly respond to Oliver’s critiques, but Dollar General has been investing in improving the customer experience in its stores. In addition, the outgoing CEO shared an ambition that goes beyond the chain’s dollar-store roots.
Dollar General invests in its stores
What Vasos said about Dollar General doing well during challenging economic times has proven to be true. The company reports strong fourth-quarter and full-year results in its Q4 earnings release.
- Fourth-quarter net sales increased5.9% to $10.9 billion
- Fiscal-year net sales increased5.2% to $42.7 billion
- Fourth-quarter same-store sales increased 4.3%
- Fiscal-year same-store sales increased 3%
- Fourth-quarter operating profit increased 106.1% to $606.3 million
- Fiscal-year operating profit increased 28.6% to $2.2 billion
Those results, Vasos shared, have been driven by an increased focus on the chain’s stores.
“First, with the customer at the center of everything we do, we are focused on enhancing the customer experience. We believe we have a tremendous opportunity to gain additional market share with both new and existing customers as we look to drive trips with them both in-store and digitally,” he said during Dollar General’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
That has included both in-store design improvements and merchandise changes.
“In-store, we expect to further enhance the customer experience in 2026 with the introduction of a new store format and even more relevant merchandising programs, including our non-consumable initiative,” he added.
As a frequent Dollar General shopper, the chain’s store improvements are noticeable. Stores feel more organized, and the retailer’s push toward “treasure hunt” shopping appears to be working.
A quick trip for ready-to-drink iced coffee can easily turn into an extra purchase such as a phone charger or seasonal item.
Dollar General copies the Costco and Marshalls model
Costco and Marshalls’ ever-changing merchandise draws in customers looking for deals, but not always for specific merchandise.
“We have reimagined our traditional store format by creating a new layout in response to what customers have told us they want from their shopping trip. This new format is designed to be more open and inviting, resulting in greater browsing and treasure hunt shopping as customers are exposed to more categories as they navigate the store,” Vasos shared.
Costco and Marshalls have built their businesses around the treasure-hunt model, which drives customers to spend more, even when they visit with a specific shopping list in mind.
Dollar General has seen success with this strategic shift.
“We tested this new format in a portion of our 2025 remodel projects and are pleased with the incremental sales lift and relative sales outperformance compared to traditional remodels. Ultimately, we believe this format will help drive both increased transactions and ticket as the store provides for an even fuller fill-in trip,” the CEO added.
Traffic to the chain’s stores suggests that the changes have led to some success.
“Quarterly visits to Dollar General and Dollar Tree remained elevated from 2024 onward, with Q3 2025 visits growing 4.9% and 4.3%, respectively, on a year-over-year (YoY) basis,” according to data from Placer.ai.
While many major retailers have struggled to drive store traffic from lower-income shoppers, Dollar General has continued to post visit growth as consumers prioritize value and quick-trip convenience.
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Dollar General benefits from economic struggles
“If consumers are ‘trading down’ their meal sizes as well as their entire meal-out experiences, they’re likely doing the same on other fronts,” Motley Fool analyst James Brumley wrote.
That trend is reflected in Dollar General’s customer mix.
“Namely, they may be comparing prices on a variety of goods and finding Dollar General and Dollar Tree offer meaningfully better bargains than their nearby grocery store or even Walmart,” he added.
The chain’s investment in its stores appears to have paid off.
“While execution in stores can still be patchy, our channel checks suggest there has been a general uplift in standards, with fewer locations plagued by cluttered aisles or low staffing,” GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders told Axios.
Related: Forget chicken fingers, Costco quietly adds new food court item
