Dollar General Opens New Sumter Location on Bethel Church Road March 14

Dollar General cut the ribbon Saturday morning at 811 Bethel Church Road in Sumter, South Carolina, drawing early customers with $10 complimentary gift cards for the first 50 adults through the door and DG tote bags for the first 100 arrivals at the 8 a.m. grand opening event.

Matthew Simonsen, Dollar General's senior vice president of business intelligence and development, pointed to jobs, tax revenue, and literacy funding as the store's community contributions. "At Dollar General, we believe the addition of our new Sumter store provides positive economic growth for the community through the creation of new jobs and career growth opportunities; increased accessibility to affordable products; the generation of tax revenue and access to Dollar General Literacy Foundation grants," Simonsen said. "As part of our mission of Serving Others, we look forward to being a strong business partner and good neighbor, as well as welcoming customers to our new store." The company did not specify how many positions were created, what types of roles were filled, or how prospective employees could apply.

The store sits on roughly 2 acres carved out of a larger 11-acre tract along Bethel Church Road, in Sumter County Council District 3. Planning records filed with the Sumter City-County Planning Commission in August 2025 under case MSP-25-38 show applicant CDP Sumter 7, LLC, with authorized agent Gregorey Googer, sought major site plan review approval for the approximately 10,640-square-foot general merchandise building on land previously zoned General Commercial and sitting vacant. The commission required major site plan review because of the volume of off-street parking the proposed use demanded.

Site plans titled "Sumter Dollar General 31287," prepared by KB Sellars Engineering and dated August 15, 2025, guided the build. The commission's August 27, 2025 review noted the 2-acre parcel falls outside the Highway Corridor Protection District boundary along US Highway 521 South, meaning the project was not subject to HCPD design standards, including requirements governing exterior building materials.

The Sumter location follows a well-worn Dollar General playbook: a modestly sized store on commercially zoned land near a highway corridor, with community-benefit language front and center in the announcement. What the company's press release does not provide is the detail that actually matters to workers: how many jobs, whether they are full-time or part-time, what the pay is, and where to apply. Those specifics were not included in the corporate submission to The Sumter Item, and Dollar General had not responded to requests for additional hiring information as of publication.