Company Profile
Company Overview
Dollar General Corporation has been delivering value to shoppers for over 75 years. Dollar General helps shoppers Save time. Save money. Every day!® by offering products that are frequently used and replenished, such as food, snacks, health and beauty aids, cleaning supplies, basic apparel, housewares and seasonal items at everyday low prices in convenient neighborhood locations. Dollar General operated 14,761 stores in 44 states as of May 4, 2018. In addition to high quality private brands, Dollar General sells products from America’s most-trusted manufacturers such as Clorox, Energizer, Procter & Gamble, Hanes, Coca-Cola, Mars, Unilever, Nestle, Kimberly-Clark, Kellogg’s, General Mills, and PepsiCo. Learn more about Dollar General at www.dollargeneral.com.
In Dollar General, you'll find a company that embraces substance and simplicity. Our mission is to serve others. And, we think our customers are best served when we keep it real and keep it simple.
Dollar General stands for convenience, quality brands and low prices. Dollar General's successful prototype makes shopping a truly hassle-free experience. We design small neighborhood stores with carefully edited merchandise assortments to make shopping simpler. We don't carry every brand and size, just the most popular ones.
We promote a spirit of involvement, and we carry Dollar General's mission to serve deep into the communities we call home. Through our charitable outreach, we strive for a real and lasting impact on individuals and their families.
Company History
We've grown from a single wholesale store to the country's largest small-box retailer. A passionate commitment to serving our customers, employees and communities is the foundation of our growth.
How Our Story Began
James Luther (J.L.) Turner’s father died in an accident in 1902 when J.L. was only 11. J.L. quit school so he could work on the family farm and help provide for his mother and siblings and never completed his education. J.L. knew his limited education demanded that he become a quick study of the world around him. After two unsuccessful attempts at retailing, J.L. became a traveling dry goods salesman for a Nashville wholesale grocer. J.L. left the sales job after 10 years and settled his family in Scottsville, Ky.
During the Depression, he began buying and liquidating bankrupt general stores. J.L.’s only child, Cal Turner Sr., accompanied his father to these closeouts at a young age, gaining valuable business knowledge and skills. In October 1939, J.L. and Cal opened J.L. Turner and Son Wholesale with an initial investment of $5,000 each. Wholesaling quickly gave way to retailing – J.L.’s third and final attempt at retailing. The switch to retailing resulted in annual sales above $2 million by the early 1950s, and the rest is history.
The first Dollar General store opened in Springfield, Ky. on June 1, 1955, and the concept was simple – no item in the store would cost more than one dollar. The idea became a huge success and other stores owned by J.L. Turner and his son Cal Turner Sr. were quickly converted. By 1957, annual sales of Dollar General’s 29 stores were $5 million.
J.L. passed away in 1964. Four years later, the company he co-founded went public as Dollar General Corporation, posting annual sales of more than $40 million and net income in excess of $1.5 million. In 1977, Cal Turner Jr., who joined the company in 1965 as the third generation Turner, succeeded his father as president of Dollar General. Cal Turner Jr. led the company until his retirement in 2002. Under his leadership, the company grew to more than 6,000 stores and $6 billion in sales.
Today, the company is a leading discount retailer with more than 14,000 stores in 44 states. The company remains true to the humble ethic of hard work and friendly customer service embodied by the founding family.
The yellow Dollar General store sign is a popular symbol of value. Our convenient, everyday low prices model has survived and thrived through the decades. The company remains true to the humble ethic of hard work and friendly customer service embodied by the founding family. About a quarter of Dollar General's merchandise still sells for a dollar or less. The simplicity that defined our past is the engine that drives our success today.
Learn more about Dollar General's comprehensive history by clicking here.
Benefits
To learn more about our benefits please visit www.dg.com/careers