new carlsbad dollar general is part of chain's explosive growth

Plans have been announced for the construction of a new Dollar General outlet in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

Those plans, which have been submitted to the City of Carlsbad’s building department, call for the store to be built just to the west of a Carlsbad Irrigation District canal in the 2200 block of W. Lea Street.

The new store will make for the fourth such outlet in Carlsbad for the Goodlettsville, Tennessee-based chain.

With a population that is just under 30,000 people, Carlsbad represents the kind of market in which Dollar General has traditionally thrived.

With more than 16,500 stores national, the vast majority of which are in rural locations, Dollar General earlier this year announced plans to build exactly 1,000 new stores by the end of 2020.

And unlike many other businesses, Dollar General has not been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. On the contrary, according to the company’s most recent earnings statements, Dollar General’s sales have grown by an unprecedented 22 percent in the first quarter of this year.

“There can be little doubt that Dollar General is one of the major beneficiaries of the crisis,” the publication Chain Store Age recently noted of the chain’s success during the pandemic.

With plans also underway to renovate up to 1,500 of its stores this year, a plan on track with the renovation work on 500 of those outlets already completed, analysts say the company has done particularly well because in many remote areas of the country it is the only store around.

“We believe our unique brick-and-mortar footprint positions us well to continue delivering value and convenience to our customers, particularly at a time when they need us most,” Todd Vasos, Dollar General chief executive officer, remarked during the company’s most recent earnings statement, released late last month.

While most of the chain’s stores have typically measured between 6,000 to 7,300 square feet, more recent locations have been as large as 9,100 square feet.
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Those stores have been overwhelmingly located to the east of the Mississippi River, with reports indicating that most of the new Dollar Generals will be built in the states of the West.

​By Garry Boulard

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