LaToya Roberts-Hill
FI516 – Advanced Managerial Finance
IPO Paper

Dollar General Corporation

Dollar General Corporation was founded in 1939 by Cal Turner in Scottsville, Kentucky. The initial concept of Dollar General was that no item in the store would cost more than one dollar. Dollar General Stores are normally located in small shopping plazas or strip malls in local neighborhoods. In recent years, Dollar General has started constructing more stand-alone stores, mostly in areas that are not served by other general merchandise retailers. Today, Dollar General Headquarters is located in Goodlettsville, TN. Dollar General offers both name brand and generic products, including off-brand goods and close- outs of name-brand items to its consumers. Dollar General has also begun to offer a greater selection of grocery items including frozen foods similar to that of a grocery store. The Dollar General Stores that carry the grocery and frozen products are similar to Wal-Mart Supercenter, thought they are much smaller, operate under the name of Dollar General Market. Dollar General serves communities that are too small for larger retail chains such as Wal-Mart. Its competitors are national chains such as Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, and Fred’s in the southeast. By 1957, Dollar General had 29 stores and their annual sale for these stores was around $5 million. Dollar General has also been connected with motorsports like NASCAR. It is now sponsoring Turner Motorsports Nationwide Series. Dollar General has created an acronym, “DG”, and is it known as a brand that is inexpensive. The “DG” brand is on a lot of Dollar General household cleaning products. In July of 2007, Dollar General was acquired by a private equity investment group consisting of affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), GS Capital Partners, and Citigroup. They purchased Dollar