Home goods slump at sizzling Dollar General

-- Home Textiles Today, 2/10/2009 9:03:00 AM

Goodlettsville, Tenn. – It came as no surprise that consumables continued to be the driving force at Dollar General, where fourth quarter sales jumped 11.2% to $2.85 billion compared to the same period in 2008, and comps rose 9.4%.

Dollar General, which operates 8,362 stores in 35 states, reported full-year 2008 sales of $10.46 billion, up 10.1% from $9.50 billion on year ago, with comps up 9%.

But not all the news was good.

Sales of the discount chain’s seasonal merchandise and other discretionary items were impacted “by the weak economy as well as a shorter holiday selling season,” the company said.

Included among those was the home products category, with Q4 sales of $231.4 million, down 5% from the year-ago period.

By contrast, the consumables category was up by 18%, to $1.9 billion.

Dollar General is accelerating its store opening plan, looking to open about 450 new units and complete 400 remodels and relocations in 2009.

During this past fiscal year, the company opened 207 new stores, relocated or remodeled 404 units, and closed 39.

The retailer’s release of these figures today comes more than a month ahead of its official earnings report, and was made to support comments its executives will make during a presentation on Feb. 12 at a Goldman Sachs conference.