Dollar General’s Q3 Brings Net Sales Jump
Following a weaker-than-expected second quarter, Dollar General is sharing more positive financial results for its Q3, ended Nov. 1. The company saw net sales increase 5% year-over-year to $10.2 billion, while same-store sales increased 1.3%.
According to Dollar General, the net sales increase was driven by positive sales contributions from new stores and growth in same-store sales, but was partially offset by store closures. Same-store sales growth, meanwhile, is contributed to increased sales in the consumables category, though the company saw declines in its home, seasonal and apparel categories.
“We are pleased with our team’s execution in the third quarter, particularly in light of multiple hurricanes that impacted our business,” said Todd Vasos, Dollar General CEO. “We are proud of the way our team responded to serve our communities, demonstrating the commitment and dedication to fulfilling our mission of Serving Others that is pervasive throughout our organization.”
Continued Vasos: “While we continue to operate in an environment where our core customer is financially constrained, we delivered same-store sales near the top end of our expectations for the quarter. We believe our Back to Basics efforts contributed to these results, as we have continued to improve our execution and the customer experience in our stores.”
Operating profit for Q3 decreased 25.3% to $323.8 million compared to $433.5 million in Q3 of 2023. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales, meanwhile, was 28.8%, compared to 29.0% year-over-year, a decrease of 18 basis points.
The gross profit rate decrease was attributable to increased markdowns, increased inventory damages and a greater proportion of sales from the consumables category. It was partially offset by higher inventory markups, lower shrink and decreased transportation costs.
During Q3, the retailer spent $451 million on improvements, upgrades, remodels and relocations of existing stores; $288 million for distribution and transportation-related projects; $259 million related to store facilities; and $31 million for information systems upgrades and technology-related projects.
Also during Q3, the company opened 207 new stores, remodeled 434 stores and relocated 27 stores.
In addition to its Q3 results, Dollar General shared the details of its new Project Elevate program, which is an incremental remodel initiative aimed at the retailer’s mature stores that are not yet old enough to be part of the full remodel pipeline.
“We believe we will enhance the customer experience with a lighter-touch remodel, including customer-facing physical asset updates and planogram optimizations and expansions across the store,” said CFO Kelly Dilts. "Ultimately, our goal is to further enhance the associate and customer experience in our mature stores, while also driving incremental sales growth.”
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For the fiscal year ending Jan. 30, 2026, Dollar General plans to execute nearly 5,000 real estate projects, including opening approximately 575 new stores in the United States, fully remodeling approximately 2,000 stores, remodeling approximately 2,250 stores through Project Elevate, and also relocating about 45 stores.
As for the rest of its current fiscal year, Dollar General has tightened up its net sales and same-store sales growth expectations, with net sales growth in the range of approximately 4.8% to 5.1%, compared to its previous expectation of approximately 4.7% to 5.3%.
Same-store sales growth in the range of approximately 1.1% to 1.4% is now expected, compared to the previous expectation in the range of 1.0% to 1.6%.
As of Nov. 1, Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based Dollar General operated 20,523 Dollar General, DG Market, DGX and pOpshelf stores across the United States and Mi Súper Dollar General stores in Mexico. The company is No. 17 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
