The numbers Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based Dollar General Corp. throws around can be staggering: 14,000 store, 130,000 employees, and 4.3% same-store sales growth on $5.9 billion in sales in the third quarter of 2017.
While produce is still a small number for the company right now, it has the potential to get a lot bigger.
CEO Todd Vasos said during the company’s third quarter earnings report held Dec. 7, of the 1,000 remodels planned for 2018, about 400 of them will be the “traditional plus,” which includes expanded perishables. Of those, about 100 will include fresh produce.
Once remodeled, same store sales improvements track three times higher in stores that have fresh produce added to the assortment, Vasos said.
One analyst, Chuck Grom of Gordon Haskett, asked whether Dollar General plans to accelerate fresh produce integration to more stores in the future.
Vasos said Dollar General is taking a “disciplined” approach to store remodels and puts produce enhancements only where it has a “proven track record of where they are most successful.”
“We probably have another 2,000 to 3,000 of those opportunities as they exist today,” Vasos said, during the call. “But you know what, as we continue to learn more about what the consumer is buying out of those traditional plus stores, and what they continue to ask for, that could actually expand.”
Vasos said the number of stores with fresh produce assortment could be up to 5,000.
“We continue to work the produce side because it is a competitive advantage for us in many areas when we offer produce,” he said. “As we continue to learn the produce business, and our stores learn more about it, I think there are going to be more and more opportunities for that as well in the years ahead of us.”