DOLLAR General announced it will be closing 141 stores amid mass remodels and expansions.
The major retailer will also relocate 45 stores.
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Tennessee-based discount chain Dollar General plans to close 96 of its namesake stores.
It will also be closing 45 Popshelf stores, bringing the total number of store closures to 141.
Six Popshelf stores will also be converted to Dollar General.
Despite the wave of closures, the company also plans to open 575 new U.S. stores this year.
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The news came as part of the company’s Q4 earnings call, which reported a sales uptick of 4.5%, for a total of $10.3 billion on the quarter.
However, the company’s net income fell 52.4% to $191.2 million.
Net sales for the year rose 5% to $40.6 billion, while net income fell 32.3% to $1.1 billion.
The full-year same-store sales rose 1.4% year over year.
As the chain’s customer base is threatened by inflation and other economic concerns, Dollar General is shifting its focus to its in-store experience.
Most of the 96 Dollar General locations set to close are in urban environments, and according to CEO Todd Vasos, were “increasingly challenging to operate” and most likely would have closed anyway when their leases expired.
Popshelf’s shutdowns account for a higher amount of the store’s presence, with the 45 closing stores representing 22% of Popshelf’s retail footprint.
Popshelf was first launched as a more premium concept by Dollar General in late 2020, and the company said it’s still confident about the brand’s future.
Dollar General hopes that it can boost Popshelf’s sales with brand partnerships and an improved in-store experience.
The company also plans to enhance its own in-store experience by refining operations and reducing inventory and SKUs, according to Vasos.
Dollar General is also improving its distribution center sorting and case packing in order to streamline its process.
Last year, the company scaled back its self-checkouts as it plans to introduce a new point-of-sale system this year.
“Ultimately, we believe these efforts focused on our core business will build on the progress we’ve made and allow us to better serve our stores and customers,” Vasos said.
The company hopes that net sales will rise from 3.4% to 4.4%, and that same-store sales will rise from 1.2% to 2.2%.
Though Dollar General’s Q4 earnings look promising, the company still struggled on the year, and the economy isn’t the only one to blame.
Amazon’s same-day and next-day delivery have expanded into Dollar General’s primary demographic locations, which has inhibited the need for dollar stores in rural areas.
In response, Dollar General is teaming up with DoorDash to provide delivery from over 16,000 of its stores.
The company has already launched a pilot for same-day delivery in 400 stores, and plans to increase that to up to 10,000 stores by the end of the year, according to Vasos.
