Dollar General has over 20,000 stores. Its CEO says it has the opportunity to add thousands more in the long run.
In 2026, Dollar General plans to open 450 new stores, the company said on Thursday. That’s a slower pace compared to the 575 it planned for 2025.
But CEO Todd Vasos said that the chain has identified about 11,000 places in the continental US where it could open a Dollar General store in the future.
On the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, an analyst asked if Dollar General executives see expansion opportunities as other chains, such as rival Family Dollar and drugstores such as Rite Aid, shutter locations.
Dollar General won’t necessarily open a store at each of those 11,000 locations, though the company sees opportunities to open up shop where its rivals once were, Vasos said.
“We won’t get all those,” he said in response to the analyst. “But your question pointed to the reason we’re bullish on getting a lot of these.”
“Our competition today is really not opening a lot of stores,” Vasos said. “We don’t feel compelled to have to rush to open a lot of stores.”
At the same time, Dollar Generals’ executives feel “very bullish about what the future looks like” because of the availability of store locations, Vasos said.
Dollar General opened its 20,000th store early last year. Besides its standard store format, it also operates locations focused on fresh groceries and suburban shoppers seeking decor.
Dollar General’s third-quarter earnings results largely beat analysts’ expectations, and the company raised its profit forecast for 2025. The chain’s stock is up 49% so far this year.
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