Dollar General marks milestones at Ohio, Kentucky distribution centers

A 25-year warehouse and a five-year warehouse tell different stories about the same company. In Zanesville, Ohio, Dollar General has built a regional hub with staying power. In Walton, Kentucky, the company is still measuring how fast a newer facility can turn into the kind of place where workers can build a career, keep steady hours and move up.

Dollar General said it recently marked 25 years of operations in Zanesville and five years in Walton. For workers, the gap matters. A long-running distribution center usually means more experienced crews, deeper institutional knowledge and a better chance that open jobs stay inside the building long enough for people to advance. A newer site can bring growth, but it also has to prove that it can deliver consistent scheduling, reliable freight flow and a stable ladder for promotion.

The Zanesville center has become one of Dollar General’s most important supply-chain anchors in the Midwest. The company said the site has more than 700 traditional employees and supports nearly 1,500 stores. It also added a DG Fresh facility and a DG Private Fleet presence, turning it into more than a standard warehouse. For store teams, that kind of capacity can affect how often freight arrives, how quickly shelves get replenished and how much pressure lands on drivers, selectors, receivers and maintenance crews.

Walton is a different stage of the same play. Dollar General said the Kentucky distribution center was a $65 million investment, built as a 630,000-square-foot facility expected to support about 800 stores at full capacity. The company originally said the site would create 250 direct jobs and 50 DG Private Fleet positions, part of 300 distribution and private-fleet jobs in the area. Five years in, the real question for employees is whether those jobs become durable careers or just another expansion point in a fast-moving logistics network.

The company used both anniversaries to lean on community ties. In Zanesville, Dollar General and local leadership presented Muskingum Valley Educational Service Center with a $25,000 youth literacy donation. The Zanesville Books for Ownership site has worked with Reading Is Fundamental and Dollar General since 2004 and has helped students in 21 schools across 10 districts. Dollar General also recognized nearly 50 Founders Club members who have worked there since the center opened in 2001.

That kind of longevity is the part workers notice. A facility that keeps people for decades can create more predictable shifts, stronger benches for promotion and a safer, more experienced floor. A newer facility has to earn that same reputation. For Dollar General, the difference between a 25-year DC and a 5-year DC is not just age. It is whether the company can turn growth into stability for the people who keep the freight moving.