Dollar General tests warehouse-style format to boost traffic and sales

Dollar General is testing a more open, warehouse-style store layout meant to keep shoppers browsing longer, a move that could leave store teams stocking more categories, recovering more aisles and chasing bigger baskets.

Todd Vasos said in March that the company would pilot a format that is “more open and inviting,” designed to encourage greater browsing and “treasure hunt” shopping. Dollar General said it tried the layout in some 2025 remodeling projects and saw incremental sales lift compared with traditional remodels. The company also plans to pilot a subscription program in 2026, signaling a broader effort to make the chain more of a destination rather than only a quick-stop discounter.

For workers, that shift points to a different daily rhythm. A store built around broader assortments usually means more facing, more backroom pulls and more recovery after customers move through the aisles. It also tends to raise the bar on speed and presentation, because the same shelves that are supposed to invite browsing can quickly look picked over if freight is late or staffing is thin. That pressure matters at Dollar General because roughly 80% of its stores are in rural communities of 20,000 people or fewer, where lean crews and long delivery cycles can make a bigger assortment harder to keep shoppable.

The format push comes after a major portfolio reset. In March 2025, Dollar General said it would close 96 Dollar General stores and 45 pOpshelf stores and convert six other pOpshelf locations to Dollar General. Over fiscal 2025, the company opened 581 U.S. stores and 8 stores in Mexico, remodeled 2,000 stores through Project Renovate and 2,254 through Project Elevate, relocated 47 stores and closed 290. The company has been trimming weaker sites while pouring labor and capital into the stores it expects to keep.

The financial results help explain why management is leaning into the test. Dollar General reported fiscal 2025 net sales of $42.7 billion, up 5.2%, and same-store sales up 3.0%. In the fourth quarter, same-store sales rose 4.3%, customer traffic increased 2.6% and average transaction amount rose 1.7%. That is the core logic behind the new layout: if shoppers are already coming in more often, the company wants stores that can turn those visits into longer trips and larger baskets. For store teams, the next year is likely to bring more pressure to keep shelves full, aisles orderly and every trip to the register worth more.