A Dollar General store in Little Rock is now offering fresh fruit and vegetables as a way to draw more customers.
The store, at 4748 Springer Blvd., near College Station is the latest to adopt a new retail strategy to meet a demand for healthier foods. After being closed for renovations, the store has reopened. The company said in a news release Thursday that plans are in the works to expand fresh produce into other stores in the Little Rock area.
Dollar General, which opened more than 1,000 stores in fiscal 2021, has found success in its discounted retail model and grown rapidly in rural America. It has also faced scrutiny for saturating communities with their stores, making it difficult for grocers to compete.
Carol Spieckerman, a retail expert and president of Spieckerman Retail, said Dollar General focuses on underserved areas that are not ideal for large retailers like Walmart, Target and others. As Dollar General brings fresh produce to more stores, customers can shop more conveniently and not have to drive extra miles for certain items, she said.
"It's really a good strategy," Spieckerman said.
It is common for drug and convenience stores to sell food items as a way to bring customers through the door. Spieckerman said food drives frequency and increases the likelihood of impulse purchases. In the case of Dollar General, she said it wants to sell goods with high margins and use fresh produce, which has relatively low margins, as a lure to drive sales.
In recent years, Dollar General has remodeled 2,000 stores across the country to offer fresh fruit and vegetables and plans to reach 10,000 in the coming years. It has also invested in beauty products, adding skincare items to several stores last summer that didn't use animal testing in development.
Historically, the retailer has faced scrutiny for driving away grocers in smaller towns and Black urban areas and creating food deserts, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a national research and advocacy group. Lax planning and zoning policies have led to the proliferation of dollar stores in their communities and backlash from critics who want access to more than just a narrow selection of processed foods.
The types of produce sold at Dollar General include the top 20 items typically sold in traditional grocery stores. Shoppers are at the select stores are now able to purchase tomatoes, onion, apples, strawberries, potatoes, sweet potatoes, lemons, limes, salad mixes and more.
Dollar General said in a news release that a "meaningful number" of the remodeled stores that offer fresh fruit and vegetables are located in food deserts.
"We hope our customers enjoy the new store layout and design, as well as the expanded product assortment including fresh produce," Tod Boyster, Dollar General's vice president of store operations, said in a written statement Thursday.
"We carefully consider the positive economic impact a remodeled store will have on the local community, and we believe the addition of produce in this Little Rock store highlights our ongoing commitment to serve customers with the relevant products they expect us to carry," he added.
In December, Dollar General unveiled plans to build a $140 million distribution center in North Little Rock with cold storage capacity for fresh produce.
There are 474 Dollar General stores in Arkansas, according to recent data with German market research group Statista, a fraction of the 18,130 locations across the country.