Dollar General grows grocery share as shoppers seek convenience

Dollar General’s push to expand its grocery offering with fresh produce, frozen goods, and everyday essentials continues to pay off, as the retailer gains traction among budget-conscious consumers navigating ongoing economic pressures.

According to new data from Placer.ai, the nation’s largest dollar store chain has steadily increased its share of overall grocery visits since the second quarter of 2019, while major supermarket players such as Kroger and Albertsons have seen their visitor share fall by nearly four percentage points each.

Cross-visitation data from the analytics provider highlights how shopping behaviour is shifting. In Q2 2019, around 41% of Kroger shoppers also visited Dollar General.

That figure has now risen to nearly 52%. By contrast, the share of Dollar General customers who also shopped at Kroger has fallen from almost 29% to just 17% over the same period.

Dollar General’s strongest presence remains in the South, where it accounted for one in five grocery visits in 2025. However, its fastest growth has occurred elsewhere: grocery visit share rose more than four points in the Midwest and over three points in the Northeast between 2019 and 2025.

Despite its smaller footprint in the West, the retailer nearly doubled its grocery visit share there in the same timeframe.

“Location analytics reveal that Dollar General’s growth has been fueled largely by its dominance in short visits – in-and-out trips lasting less than 10 minutes for essentials like milk, bread, eggs, or snacks,” said Placer.ai content manager Lila Margalit in a statement.

With more than 20,000 locations across the US and Mexico, Dollar General now represents 28% of all under-10-minute visits to its stores and traditional grocery outlets, up from 24% in Q2 2019.

Visits lasting longer than 10 minutes have also grown modestly but still make up just 10% of combined Dollar General and grocery trips.

“These trends underscore how Dollar General has solidified its role as a quick-stop destination, carving out a niche that complements, rather than fully replaces, the traditional grocery trip,” Margalit added.