The Billion-Dollar Discount Chain: How Dollar General Remade America

There are more than 13,000 Dollar General stores in the United States.

Thirteen thousand.

That’s about the same number as Starbucks. It’s almost double the number of Walmarts.

And Dollar General plans to open 900 more stores this year, largely in rural areas.

The chain has found a sizable and profitable market outside of cities, in places where Walmart has either closed stores or never opened them. In many of these places, Dollar General is the last store to buy essential goods and the most affordable option.

This strategy has made it “one of the most profitable retailers in the U.S.” according to The Wall Street Journal. But it hasn't always been so. Dollar General’s roots extend back to the Great Depression, when James Luther Turner and Cal Turner began buying and liquidating bankrupt general stores to support their family.

In My Father’s Business, former CEO Cal Turner Jr. shares the story behind the three-generation-run family business that changed the American retail landscape forever. He also shares the business lessons he learned along the way, and the leadership approach that guided him.

GUESTS

Cal Turner Jr., Former CEO, Dollar General

Garrick Brown, National retail research director, Cushman & Wakefield; @retailwizard

For more, visit https://the1a.org.

© 2018 WAMU 88.5 – American University Radio.

Copyright 2018 WAMU 88.5. To see more, visit WAMU 88.5.