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ollar General's CEO, Todd J. Vasos, provided an update on the company's store openings and remodels during its first-quarter earnings call. The retailer is focusing on new communities this year, with 156 new stores opened in Q1, primarily using its 8,500-square-foot formats. Despite a 40% increase in construction costs since 2019, Dollar General aims to achieve healthy returns of approximately 17% on average for its portfolio.

    The company's remodel strategy includes Project Renovate and Project Elevate approaches. Project Renovate is the traditional remodel program, while Project Elevate is an incremental remodel program aimed at bolstering performance in mature store bases not yet old enough for a full remodel pipeline. Dollar General completed 668 Project Elevate stores and 559 Project Renovate remodels in Q1.

    The company's retail media efforts are also gaining momentum, with the DG Media Network (DGMN) growing retail media volume by over 25% in Q1 compared to Q1 of last year. Dollar General has partnered with experiential marketing platform Recess and rewards app Fetch to provide DGMN advertisers with new high-performance solutions to engage high-intent consumers.

    The company's delivery partnership with DoorDash continues to exceed initial expectations, with Q1 sales through this platform increasing more than 50% year over year. Dollar General has also launched its own same-day home delivery offering through DG digital solutions, which is now available in over 3,000 stores across the US and Mexico.

    As of May 2, Dollar General operated 20,582 stores across the United States and Mexico, making it No. 16 on The PG 100 list of top food and consumables retailers in North America.