Unsurprisingly, most dollar stores—including Dollar Tree and Family Dollar—have fared well in recent years as consumers sought ways to keep on shopping while spending less. Last Christmas season, for instance, nearly one in five consumers hit dollar stores to gather food and drink for holiday festivities. Arguably no dollar store is doing better than Dollar General, which experienced a healthy 10.5% growth in sales from 2009 to 2010. Dollar General operates more than 9,500 stores in the U.S. (up from 5,000 a decade ago), is opening its first locations in Connecticut, Nevada, and New Hampshire in 2011, and will expand into California in 2012.
