storewanderer wrote: ↑November 27th, 2022, 1:21 am
A store that opened earlier this year in Doyle, CA has that configuration too (one self checkout and 2 regular ones against the wall) so I think it is very recent they moved to this freestanding self checkout layout with two units.
I'm a fifth-generation Californian and had never heard of Doyle before reading your post. I looked it up and it has fewer than 800 residents. How can a place that small support a Dollar General -- or ANY store for that matter? Maybe a gas station/convenience store, but a Dollar General?
Are there possibly other similar small towns not too far away from it (not too far could be 10 or 20 miles, if there isn't a larger area)?
That would kind of make it a small "hub" that really serves multiple small towns, not just the one it is in - we see this here in NY up in the Adirondacks in the northern part of the state.
Trying to get this thread back on track - PopShelf is interesting because the dominant categories are seasonal decor and arts and crafts products - with a few home convenience categories scraped from DG like cleaning supplies thrown in. So they would be able to work in towns small enough that a Michaels, Hobby Lobby or Joann wouldn't be able to accommodate. Michaels seems to build around 20K, new JoAnn stores around 40K and Hobby Lobby around 60K so there are a lot of areas that are simply not an option for them to serve. Joann seems to be replacing small stores with big, and Michaels closed their small format "Aaron Brothers" almost 5 years ago.
For that customer looking for crafts in the areas those 3 stores don't service they have to shop online or drive to Walmart for those items. But they're really categories that lend well to being seen and touched which is why that category is primarily still brick and mortar. Then the convenience categories added to the store could help drive some volume and if managed right generate repeat shops.
Five Below is similar size and service level - but their target customer seems to be teens and tweens. PopShelf is looking for makers and moms. They are two totally different concepts. Lots of room for PopShelf.
Are there possibly other similar small towns not too far away from it (not too far could be 10 or 20 miles, if there isn't a larger area)?
That would kind of make it a small "hub" that really serves multiple small towns, not just the one it is in - we see this here in NY up in the Adirondacks in the northern part of the state.
Doyle is sort of a busy traffic route and is near Herlong/Sierra Army Depot, CA. I am not sure how many people are stationed at Herlong; Herlong had a small commissary in the 90's but that closed in 2001.
Dollar General has some odd locations in places with very little population of +/- 1,000. Some others include Brownsville, CA and Loma Rica, CA. They recently opened in Smartsville (population 500) which is also a very busy traffic route. They also had a store in Greenville, CA but the town had a fire and a lot of it burnt down, I believe they have reopened the store as it was saved. Also Westwood, CA. Dollar General loves rural Northern California. They have incredible penetration in some of the most forgotten areas.
ClownLoach wrote: ↑November 28th, 2022, 11:23 pm
Trying to get this thread back on track - PopShelf is interesting because the dominant categories are seasonal decor and arts and crafts products - with a few home convenience categories scraped from DG like cleaning supplies thrown in. So they would be able to work in towns small enough that a Michaels, Hobby Lobby or Joann wouldn't be able to accommodate. Michaels seems to build around 20K, new JoAnn stores around 40K and Hobby Lobby around 60K so there are a lot of areas that are simply not an option for them to serve. Joann seems to be replacing small stores with big, and Michaels closed their small format "Aaron Brothers" almost 5 years ago.
I get the impression Popshelf is trying to go into locations similar to what Five Below goes into (power centers, malls, etc.). These are locations where Dollar General just wouldn't be welcomed.
They may get the mix right. Dollar General gets some "nice" looking stuff in the home category. They have basically discontinued clothing and replaced that with more food and also more home items. Quality is... not junk, really, on a level with entry level Wal Mart, Target, etc. in these categories. The problem is the presentation in the stores is so horrible it really takes away from the product. Last week they had a sale of a set of home items from spring/summer, it was 90% off + extra 50% off. Dollar General handles seasons with colored dots on the price/upc labels so these were the "green dot" items. This included various items from decor, to pillows, to picture frames, to towels, to plates/bowls. It was time consuming, but not difficult, to find stuff in the severely cluttered stores. One store had a couple dozen unpacked pillows (still flat in air tight packaging thrown onto a shelf) from the green dot, just .50 each (regular $10).
For instance some of their green dot items from videos others posted last week:
I do question how well a category is doing when a retailer puts it 95% off on Black Friday. Granted not one of the stores I visited had any signs up about this promotion, a couple CA Stores did have the items segregated up front and had 70% off signs.
Well I have seen a few posts recently on LinkedIn showing just opened PopShelf stores. Unfortunately looks like Dollar General has "value engineered" the format and downgraded everything from lighting to fixtures to signage. The latest stores look like a Dollar General with lavender signs. Complete garbage. The first wave of these stores was bright, colorful and fun looking like Five Below but with different merchandise. The pictures of the two new stores were dark, dreary and dated looking. One had a drop ceiling with the same single bulb strip lights DG uses stuck to the tiles. As has been said already on this thread these clearly are stores designed to go in places a DG would never go. But if they make them look and feel like a DG then they won't work in 'better' quality locations.
I suspect Dollar General may eventually end up with Five Below if they really want stores in these types of locations. Assuming Five Below even survives what appears to be reckless overexpansion and many new stores opening that hardly do any sales volume poorly located and not merchandised well. Went into a newer one in Reno today that has a big area around the back corner of the sales floor covered with a yellow tarp because they have no merchandise to put there. The other locations around here seem to be fully stocked now, not sure why they missed this one.
I don't have much hope in Dollar General's ability to maintain Popshelf. Operating stores in locations like they want these Popshelf Stores to be in requires a completely different culture than the typical Dollar General operational culture. It just does not seem like a great fit. There are many expansion opportunities for Dollar General's own format still out there, they have not even entered much of the Intermountain region (UT, Eastern Nevada, ID, etc.) for instance.
But Dollar General is pretty serious about the home decor category. They eliminated clothing from their stores to make room for more home decor. They have also set in additional seasonal, craft type, etc. items where clothing was. Some of this merchandise is definitely stuff they could cross into Popshelf if they wanted to and it would likely sell there if they had foot traffic.
At the end of the day Dollar General is a retailer that operates with some of the tightest expense controls in retail, lowest labor levels, lowest store build out costs, etc. Why they even want to bother running higher overhead "Popshelf" stores that will do less sales volume with a far higher cost structure than a typical Dollar General is somewhat confusing to me.
ClownLoach wrote: ↑December 20th, 2022, 8:38 am
Well I have seen a few posts recently on LinkedIn showing just opened PopShelf stores. Unfortunately looks like Dollar General has "value engineered" the format and downgraded everything from lighting to fixtures to signage. The latest stores look like a Dollar General with lavender signs. Complete garbage. The first wave of these stores was bright, colorful and fun looking like Five Below but with different merchandise. The pictures of the two new stores were dark, dreary and dated looking. One had a drop ceiling with the same single bulb strip lights DG uses stuck to the tiles. As has been said already on this thread these clearly are stores designed to go in places a DG would never go. But if they make them look and feel like a DG then they won't work in 'better' quality locations.
DG has now started converting existing existing DG stores in middle class suburban areas to the PopShelf banner, in many cases keeping the existing store infrastructure in place (hence the extremely cheap look). This is not going to end well.
DG has now started converting existing existing DG stores in middle class suburban areas to the PopShelf banner, in many cases keeping the existing store infrastructure in place (hence the extremely cheap look). This is not going to end well.
Why would they do this...?
How were these stores performing as DG? Were these perhaps underperforming DG units?
I wonder if DG could have a plan to spin poorly performing stores into Popshelf, separate Popshelf from Dollar General legally, then let Popshelf fail financially, and break the leases of the poorly performing stores in a bankruptcy of Popshelf.
Dollar General has rolled through my area and done remodels to all stores recently, and one store was left out of the remodel projects. That one store seems to be really slow on business, closes at 8 PM, and doesn't have great access due to traffic flow. It will be interesting to see if that store is slated for a conversion to Popshelf. Terrible location for Popshelf.
DG has now started converting existing existing DG stores in middle class suburban areas to the PopShelf banner, in many cases keeping the existing store infrastructure in place (hence the extremely cheap look). This is not going to end well.
Why would they do this...?
How were these stores performing as DG? Were these perhaps underperforming DG units?
I wonder if DG could have a plan to spin poorly performing stores into Popshelf, separate Popshelf from Dollar General legally, then let Popshelf fail financially, and break the leases of the poorly performing stores in a bankruptcy of Popshelf.
Dollar General has rolled through my area and done remodels to all stores recently, and one store was left out of the remodel projects. That one store seems to be really slow on business, closes at 8 PM, and doesn't have great access due to traffic flow. It will be interesting to see if that store is slated for a conversion to Popshelf. Terrible location for Popshelf.
This just makes no sense. The intent of PopShelf was a higher revenue store and a completely different line of product. I do not believe that there is any refrigeration for example in PopShelf. It is not comparable in any way, nor is it compatible. This sounds more like the PopShelf format is working very well, but they are going to destroy it by over expanding at the same time they cheapen and dilute the brand. Short term greed will wipe out any long term success. Unfortunately sounds like DG is not capable of executing anything but low end and low class.
I don't think Popshelf was ever going to be higher revenue than the standard Dollar General format. That was someone's hope and dream, probably some Wall Street Consultants who designed the whole thing to make Wall Street Analysts happy, but reality is a different place. Dollar General is a surprisingly productive format with many growth opportunities.
Low end and low class? There is no standard at all with Dollar General. I wouldn't even call it low end or low class. It is in a class of its own how it does things. But it works... it is very productive... and they put stores in places I never would have thought could support a store. And their pricing is reasonable and private label program is decent.
They also have a great mobile app, for price checks, you connect their in store wi fi and Bluetooth and scan items and it links coupons and everything automatically to get you an exact total and ensure coupons you expect to work actually do work. They call it a cart calculator.
