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Area Dollar General expansion significant

If you believe you are seeing a lot of new Dollar General stores in the area, you are not alone.

“Dollar General stores are popping up like weeds; they are all over,” said William Hall, chairman of the Blair County Planning Commission, at a recent meeting.

Dollar General is in the midst of a significant expansion in the area.

The Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based chain of variety stores operates 14,000 stores in 44 states excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming.

Dollar General currently operates 640 stores in Pennsylvania. In this area, Cambria County has 20 Dollar General stores; Bedford County has seven stores; Blair County has 12; and Huntingdon County has five, said Angela Petkovic, Dollar General spokeswoman.

A new Dollar General opened at 1230 14th Ave. in July.

Another new store is currently under construction at 606 South Temple Lane in the Greenwood area. That store is expected to open by the end of the year, Petkovic said.

Additionally, Dollar General is currently in a due diligence phase for locations in Breezewood, Duncansville, and Flinton.

“This means we’re interested in adding new stores in the area but have not committed to doing so quite yet. A final decision should be made for Breezewood and Duncansville by the end of the year, and for Flinton by mid-spring 2018,” Petkovic said.

Dollar General looks for locations where it can best serve its customers. “When choosing store locations, meeting customers’ needs is Dollar General’s top priority. The company looks for places where we can offer customers an easy and convenient shopping choice,” Petkovic said. “We know convenience is a major factor in our customers’ shopping decisions, as we generally serve customers within a 3- to 5-mile radius or 10-minute drive. We also take demographic trends, competitive factors, traffic patterns and community concerns into consideration.”

Petkovic said a typical Dollar General store is about 9,100 square feet with about 7,400 square feet of sales floor and employs six to 10 people, depending on the individual needs of the store.

Dollar General also becomes involved in the communities it serves.

“Dollar General is an ardent supporter of literacy and education through the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, which awards grants each year to nonprofit organizations, schools and libraries within a 20-mile radius of a Dollar General store or distribution center to support adult, family, summer and youth literacy programs. Since its inception in 1993, the DGLF has awarded more than $140 million in grants to nonprofit organizations, helping more than nine million individuals take their first steps toward literacy or continued education,” Petkovic said.

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 946-7467.

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