Dollar General boss says 1,620 stores to get remodel and hints at self-checkout future after controversial change
A DOLLAR General executive has noted plans to remodel 1,620 stores as the retailer continues to clamp down on self-checkout.
The company had an earnings call on Thursday to discuss its plans following Dollar General’s first quarter of 2024.
Dollar General’s Chief Financial Officer Kelly Dilts explained that that allows Dollar General to have more money for remodels
As the self-checkout change is a measure taken to combat shrink in Dollar General, Vasos explained how serious the problem is
Dollar General’s Chief financial officer, Kelly Dilts, revealed plans to remodel more stores than originally planned, by the end of the year.
“We now expect to remodel approximately 1,620 stores this year compared to our previous expectation of 1,500 remodels,” Dilts said on the call.
“To facilitate this increase in remodels, we’re reducing the number of planned new stores to 730 compared to our previous expectation of 800 new stores. We continue to expect to relocate 85 stores.”
The company is reducing its number of new stores opening this year by around 70 sites.
“And what we’re going do is move them into 2025,” Dilts said.
“So we feel really good about the locations that we have identified. We’re just pushing them out into to 2025.”
She explained that that allows Dollar General to have more money for remodels.
Dollar General’s CEO, Todd Vasos, went on to stress that it’s getting good feedback on store remodels and its decision to start a process of removing self-checkout from its locations.
“As we discussed on last quarter’s call, we converted approximately 9,000 stores away from self-checkout during the quarter following the quick and successful conversion of these stores in Q1,” he said.
“And given the ongoing challenge from shrink, we converted approximately 3,000 additional stores away from self-checkout in May, bringing us to approximately 12,000 conversions completed in total.”
When asked if removing self-checkout kiosks from the already-remodeled stores made “any kind of measurable difference,” Vasos insisted customers have been enjoying the changes.
“There is no doubt we’re getting positive customer feedback across the board on the 9,000 and quite frankly, some of the 3,000 that we did in May,”” the Dollar General CEO said.” he said.
“A couple of them have many of them have been for a couple weeks now. So, we’re getting that feedback.”
He even said the company hasn’t really received any negative feedback as of yet.
“It’s always positive from what we’re getting,” Vasos stressed.
“The vast majority of it from our consumers because they like the interaction at the front of the store. And with that interaction then also comes having somebody at the front of the store very visible at all times, which as you recall was not always the case in 2023.”
The company made the decision to remove self-checkout kiosks at certain stores in a desperate bid to combat theft.
According to Vasos, the issue “continues to be the most significant headwind” in the business.
“We are deploying an end-to-end approach to shrink reduction across the organization, including efforts in our supply chain merchandising and within our stores to help combat issues around shrink.”
Latest self-checkout changes
Retailers are evolving their self-checkout strategy in an effort to speed up checkout times and reduce theft.
Walmart shoppers were shocked when self-checkout lanes at various locations were made available only for Walmart+ members.
Other customers reported that self-checkout was closed during specific hours, and more cashiers were offered instead.
While shoppers feared that shoplifting fueled the updates, a Walmart spokesperson revealed that store managers are simply experimenting with ways to improve checkout performance.
One bizarre experiment included an RFID-powered self-checkout kiosk that would stop the fiercely contested receipt checks.
However, that test run has been phased out.
At Target, items are being limited at self-checkout.
Last fall, the brand surveyed new express self-checkout lanes across 200 stores with 10 items or less for more convenience.
As of March 2024, this policy has been expanded across 2,000 stores in the US.
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