Expect to see a new Dollar General store popping up at 1113 W. 1st St (GMap).
City of Sanford planning staff are currently reviewing a proposal to build a 7,500 square-foot general retail store at that location. Dollar General is not named as the retailer, but the building size is consistent with the company’s prototype stores.
In addition, the company making the application is Gainesville-based Concept Development Inc., which lists Dollar General as one of its clients.
Like facial hair on a 30-something – and almost as annoying – Dollar General stores are ubiquitous. The company has more than 11,500 stores in 43 states, making it the largest retailer in terms of U.S. store locations.
Expect to see even more.
Dollar General and its competitors, chiefly Family Dollar and Dollar Tree, are classified as “quick-trip” or “fill-in” retailers, or simply dollar stores. The category generates nearly $500 billion annually in sales, which is on par with Walmart. In fact, the brokerage firm Sterne Agee points out there are five dollar stores for every Walmart store. The firm adds that in 2013 a new dollar store opened somewhere in the US every six hours.
If another dollar store is to be built in Sanford, maybe this time the city won’t allow the developer to position the building with the back of the store facing the road like it did with the new Family Dollar Store at the intersection of Celery and Mellonville avenues.
– by Dan Ping
Sanford, Fla. 