“Construction began at the beginning on this month, and we plan to celebrate our grand opening late this year — November or December,” Dollar General spokeswoman Jaclyn Dees said. The store will employ six to 10 people, Dees said.
Dollar General focuses on customers’ needs when choosing store locations, Dees said.
“We look for places where we can offer customers an easy and convenient shopping choice. We also take demographic trends, competitive factors and traffic patterns into consideration,” Dees said. Each Dollar General store typically serves customers within a three-to-five-mile radius, or 10-minute, drive, she said.
The tract housed a Frickers bar and restaurant, and the sports bar chain’s corporate offices, until Sept. 15, 2008, when fire destroyed the building. The gutted structure was demolished, and the land has been vacant for more than five years.
Renee Snodgrass, building and zoning inspector for the city of West Carrollton, said the site saw plenty of activity when Frickers operated there. “We’re excited to put it back into use,” Snodgrass said.
According to Montgomery County property records, the 1.7-acre site was purchased by Tennessee-based Dayton DOHP LLC for $450,000 on March 28, just days before the site work for the new Dollar General store began.
Dollar General is based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, and is the leader in the highly competitive dollar-store industry that includes Family Dollar and Dollar Tree. The retailer operates more than 50 stores from Eaton to Springfield and from West Milton to Lebanon.
All three of the dollar-store chains grew rapidly in the last five years, during and after the recession, as cash-strapped shoppers searched for values. Family Dollar, however, announced earlier this week that it would close 370 U.S. stores and open fewer new ones in 2014.
About the Author
