As part of my vacation trip south this year, I focused in on some interesting finds in the panhandle of West Virginia. One such find was this Dollar General Market in Wellsburg, WV. Perhaps the market design is more common in other areas of the country, but as far as I know no such design exists in the blog's coverage area. I took the opportunity to stop in and get an experience of what the store is like.
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| Produce & Ice Cream |
This store seemed to be doing pretty well which makes sense as the nearest Walmart is at least around 10 miles or so away. Kroger does have a location down the road, but likely lacks a selection of general merchandise due to its smaller size. The convenience of having all the items that Dollar General normally sells with the added bonus of extra market items would easily put a hurting a Walmart.
I've been to a DG Market before, and will feature my visit on my blog eventually. It's operating in one of the former Walmart Express locations that was closed a while back. Turns out Dollar General snapped up a lot of those former WM Express stores, which is great for those communities. However, they don't carry the Market name (just regular Dollar General), and definitely don't have this funky décor - cool find!
ReplyDeleteI remember reading that DG was picking some of the old Walmart Express stores up. Technically you didn't visit a market store, just a Dollar General with an expanded grocery selection. That probably explains why you didn't see this decor.
DeleteAh, okay. Gotcha. Seems strange that they didn't decide to name their acquired stores Markets, though. I think that'd give passersby a better indication that they sell fresh foods as compared to a regular Dollar General.
DeleteYeah, it does seem odd for them not to continue the market branding. I guess their focus is to try to eventually have most if not all stores to carry at least a little more grocery than they currently do.
DeleteThe decor in this store is the original DG Market decor, which I though DG had gotten rid of when they did the Market brand refresh around 2011, so this was a pretty cool find! I vaguely remember when the Merritt Island DG Market had this decor, and I had a difficult time finding photos of what the original decor looked like when I was researching that store. This original decor has a bit more character than the rather blah modern version introduced around 2011 with the refresh (which can be seen here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/113856435@N07/albums/72157665387277414)
ReplyDeleteAh! I remember those pictures. I honestly don't mind both decor packages, but the modern is definitely more colorful.
DeleteAs for finding this decor, I guess I just happened to choose the right location to visit!
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