If you ever thought Daviess County was home to too many Dollar General stores, economic trends are presenting a very different truth.
The newest Dollar General store will be located at 6291 Highway 54, on the corner of Jack Hinton Road and Hwy 54 in Philpot. This will be Daviess County’s fifteenth Dollar General store. The building in Philpot will be leased under Susan Cox Development. The company confirmed the Hwy 54 store should open sometime between the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019.
While Dollar General stores are accessible in most areas, the east side of Owensboro–as well as the eastern side of the county–has become acquainted with an ever-rising volume of Dollar General stores in recent years.
What’s more, the Dollar General stores located along Owensboro’s east side have been built in relatively close proximity to each other. The soon-to-open Philpot store is only eight minutes away from the Whitesville store, located at 10133 Main Street. Furthermore, the Dollar General located at 4471 Springhill Drive is only 1.3 miles away from the 1653 E. Parrish Avenue store. The store on East Parrish is also located 1.5 miles away from the Dollar General at 320 E. 4th Street. It’s only a seven-minute drive from the East Parrish location to Dollar General on Hwy 144. The close proximity and the seemingly never-ending growth of such a specific chain in Owensboro, raises a pretty simple question: Why are there so many?
The short answer is because these stores stay busy.
Dollar General stores in the US continue to thrive and, in turn, the demand for them keeps rising. According to the CNN Money site, the number of US locations rose from 8,194 in 2007 to 14,534 in 2017. In Kentucky, there are approximately 70 Dollar General locations in the state’s four largest cities combined. In fact, Dollar General is actually one of the few retail stores experiencing steady growth these days.
Stores on both the east and west sides of Daviess County expressed how consistent their businesses stay on a day-to-day basis. Even factoring in the close proximity between east-side Dollar Generals, and the ever-increasing number of them, current store employees don’t worry about the new Philpot store affecting their business.
“We stay very busy, all the time, on a daily basis,” said Katie Edge, a keyholder at the Whitesville location. Edge doesn’t believe a new Dollar General opening only seven minutes away from her store will hurt the Whitesville store in the least. Edge attributes the rising population on the east side of Owensboro to the increasing number of stores.
West-side stores stay just as busy. According to keyholder Sheila Stine, the store located on Benttree Drive, off Highway 60-W, remains steady throughout the entire week.
“Our store hasn’t stopped,” said Stine. “We have to ask people to leave at night.”
Stine mentioned her store is located next to a new subdivision, but doesn’t believe that to be the only reason for the high volume of customers.
“I’ve been here three to four years,” said Stine. “It has always been busy.”
CNN’s Money Report projected 900 new Dollar General stores would be opened in 2018, a 35% increase from five years ago. Analysts expect Dollar General’s run to continue as long as government benefits to support lower-middle class to lower-class Americans, such as Medicaid and food stamps, remains steady.
Whatever the reason for their success, Dollar General stores are thriving in Owensboro and the surrounding area, and the newest Philpot location will contribute to this trend.
