Dollar General and PopShelf will close 141 stores as list of retail casualties grows

2025 has not been a good year for retail store closures so far. High-profile chains, including Joann fabrics, Walgreens, and Big Lots, have shuttered locations across the country. And now Dollar General is joining them.

Here’s what you need to know.

Dollar General Corporation to close 141 stores

Dollar General Corporation is the owner of the popular chain of Dollar General discount stores and the PopShelf retail chain. The company has now announced it will shutter 141 stores across both brands.

Dollar General Corporation made the store closure announcement yesterday in its fourth-quarter and fiscal-year 2024 earnings report. As part of that report, the company said it has chosen to close a number of locations after evaluating the individual stores’ performance, operating conditions, and expected future performance.

That review has led Dollar General Corporation to decide to close the following:

• 96 Dollar General stores
• 45 Popshelf stores

“As a result of this review, the Company plans to close 96 Dollar General stores and 45 pOpshelf stores, and convert an additional six pOpshelf stores to Dollar General stores in the first quarter of the 52-week fiscal year ending January 30, 2026 (‘fiscal 2025’),” the company stated.

Which Dollar General and Popshelf locations are closing?

While Dollar General Corporation announced the closure of 141 locations across the two brands, the company did not immediately provide a list of which locations would close.

Fast Company has reached out to Dollar General Corporation for a list of locations that will be closing.

Currently, Popshelf’s store locator shows the company has over 220 stores spread across 20 states. A closure of 45 of those stores means Dollar General Corporation will be reducing Popshelf’s store count by roughly 20%.

In its earnings release, Dollar General Corporation also noted that it will “convert an additional six pOpshelf stores to Dollar General stores in the first quarter of the 52-week fiscal year ending January 30, 2026 (‘fiscal 2025’).”

As for the Dollar General closures, Dollar General Corporation says it currently has more than 20,000 Dollar General stores across 48 states. A closure of 96 locations is roughly around a minuscule 0.5% of all Dollar General stores.

“While the number of closings represents less than one percent of our overall store base, we believe this decision better positions us to serve our customers and communities,” Todd Vasos, Dollar General’s CEO, said.

Dollar General Corporation did not address what would happen to the employees at the closing locations—whether they would be let go or given the opportunity to move to other stores. The company says it currently employs more than 194,000 employees.

Thousands of retail stores expected to close in 2025

Dollar General Corporation made the store closure announcement while reporting that its fiscal year 2024 saw a net income of $1.1 billion—a decrease of 32.3% from fiscal year 2023. However, net sales for fiscal 2024 increased to $40.6 billion—5% higher than in 2023.

Still, regarding the announced closures, Vasos said, “we believe this review was appropriate to further strengthen the foundation of our business.”

As Fast Company previously reported, Coresight Research released a report earlier this year in which it says it expects to see up to 15,000 retail locations close across the United States in 2025.

The closures, in part, are the result of decreasing foot traffic to many retailers as consumers look to rein in discretionary spending among inflationary pressures. Those same consumers are also increasingly turning to online shopping instead of making the journey to brick-and-mortar stores—and that online competition isn’t just coming from U.S. online retail giant Amazon.

“We expect general-merchandise retailers across a wide range of categories, from automotive to home and pet, to be threatened by the further growth of Temu and the scaling of Shein’s non-clothing offering,” the report stated.

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