Dollar General has experienced a sales bump this year as Americans with high incomes “trade in” where they used to shop for the store’s low prices, according to the company’s CEO.
The value chain, which sells groceries, personal care and cleaning products among other things, saw a 3.4 percent sales increase year-on-year in the first quarter.
This was in part thanks to people with $100,000 or more salaries frequenting the chain to save money, the company revealed in its earnings call Tuesday. Soaring gas prices, triggered by the Iran war’s impact on oil shipping, have played a role in high-earners shopping at Dollar General, CEO Todd Vasos said.
A squeezed oil supply pushed the national average for a gallon of gas past $4.50 in May before falling to $4.26 Tuesday - still up more than $1.25 from pre-war prices.
“We’re seeing … that $100,000-plus cohort that’s trading in,” Vasos said. “When [the gas] price hits that $4 mark and then crosses it and then sustains for a while, you start to see that trade-in come in and you start to see that our core customer needs us most. It's exactly what's happening.”
The company’s $1 price point for certain items has been a “real savior” for the company’s core customers, Vasos said.
Dollar General’s positive results come a week after a competitor announced widespread store closures.
Family Dollar announced Thursday it closed around 350 stores over the past 10 months as part of an effort to close as many as 1,000 underperforming stores. To stay competitive, the company said it will open “extra small” stores in highly populated urban areas to improve operating efficiency.
Dollar Tree saw its sales rise 6.7 percent year-on-year, but those numbers lag behind the 10.7 percent sales growth the company saw in 2025. And while the company plans to open 400 stores this year, that total is down from 525 locations in 2024.
Discount stores have come into focus over the past few months as consumers deal with soaring prices for everyday items.
Inflation has hammered American wallets over the past two months. It jumped from 2.7 percent in February to 3.3 percent in March. Then, it rose to 3.8 percent in April, a three-year high.
Consumers have responded by cutting back streaming services and, in some cases, opting out of employer-sponsored healthcare plans to save money.
They’ve also traded the aisles of higher-priced grocery stores for retail giant Walmart and discount stores such as Dollar General.
When asked by reporters last month about the role the average American’s finances play in peace negotiations with Iran, President Donald Trump said he doesn’t consider the average person’s finances, and that the trade-off is worth Iran not having nuclear weapons.
