Dollar General beats Street in Q1; to open 590 stores; boosts guidance

Dollar General Corp. got off to a strong start in fiscal year 2025 and is raising its guidance for the full year as it plans to mitigate any potential tariff impact.

The discount retailer reported a net sales increase of 5.3% for the first quarter of fiscal 2025, rising to $10.4 billion from $9.9 billion. This exceeded Wall Street projections of $10.26 billion.

Same-store sales increased 2.4%, double the roughly 1.2% analysts had predicted. Earnings per share (EPS) of $1.78 came in well ahead of a projected $1.47. Net income grew 8% to $391.9 million from $363.3 million.

“We are pleased with our start to the year, including strong same-store sales and EPS results,” said Todd Vasos, Dollar General CEO. “Our efforts to improve execution and enhance the associate and customer experience are yielding positive outcomes in both our operational performance and our financial results. These efforts contributed to market share gains in sales of both consumables and non-consumables, and drove growth with both our core customer and trade-in customers during the quarter.”

According to Dollar General, its net sales increase was driven by positive sales contributions from new stores and growth in same-store sales, partially offset by the impact of store closures. 

Meanwhile, same-store sales growth reflected a 2.7% increase in average transaction amount and a 0.3% decrease in customer traffic. Same-store sales included growth in each of the consumables, seasonal, home products, and apparel categories.

During the first quarter of 2025, the company opened 156 new stores, remodeled 668 stores through Project Elevate, an incremental remodel initiative aimed at mature stores that are not yet old enough to be part of the full remodel pipeline, remodeled 559 stores through its Project Renovate full remodel program, and relocated 23 stores.