Dollar General's stores are so overrun with merchandise that fire marshals are closing them

A Dollar General store in Minnesota, where merchandise was stored on the sidewalk outside of the store this winter.

Insider source

• Some Dollar General stores have temporarily closed because they are overcrowded with goods.
• Photos show items like bottled water and dog food clogging aisles, and boxes packing back rooms.
• Local fire marshals have ordered the stores to close until they can clear up the clutter.

Some Dollar General stores are so full of stuff that local fire marshals are ordering the stores to close until they can cut down on the clutter.

At some locations, aisles are clogged with plastic tubs and metal-framed dollies, called "rolltainers," that hold goods still wrapped in their shipping containers, according to photos shared with Insider. 

Typically, these items are stored in back rooms until employees can unpack them. But some Dollar General stores appear to be unloading truck deliveries directly onto sales floors. In some cases, the merchandise has blocked aisles, exits, and access to fire extinguishers, according to fire safety officials.

Insider counted at least six Dollar General stores around the US that have closed temporarily within the last few months after local officials said they violated fire safety codes. Insider identified the stores using local media reports, interviews with local officials, and public records of Dollar General store inspections.

A Dollar General spokesperson told Insider that it "is committed to providing a safe work environment for its associates and shopping experience for its customers."

"We regularly review and refine our safety programs, and reinforce them through training, ongoing communication, recognition and accountability," the spokesperson said. "When we learn of situations where we have failed to live up to this commitment, we work to timely address the issue and ensure that the company's expectations regarding safety are clearly communicated, understood and implemented."

Dollar General stores with too much inventory sitting in the aisles can violate fire safety codes

In Pittsylvania County, located in Southern Virginia, county officials ordered two Dollar General stores to close temporarily last fall.

"When they receive a shipment of stock, their back room isn't big enough for that stock," said Christopher Key, public safety director for Pittsylvania County told Insider.

Inspections at the stores in Gretna and Mount Hermon, Virginia found aisles so cluttered that they lacked at least 36 inches of space for customers and employees to get through, the minimum clearance required by law, Key said. Inventory was also blocking exits and was too close to electrical panels, he said.

Both stores reopened within a few days, Key said. But the county still hears from customers about how packed Dollar General stores in Pittsylvania are, he added.

"The one in Gretna, we receive complaints week after week after week," Key said.

In neighboring North Carolina, officials in Watauga County ordered two Dollar General stores to close for similar reasons, the Watauga Democrat reported on February 14.

At a Dollar General in Cadott, Wisconsin, about 110 miles East of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the local fire department found "excessive amounts of overstock items in the aisles and in their shipping/receiving area," the Cadott Police Department posted on Facebook in August. The store reopened later that month.

One truck driver who delivers merchandise to Dollar General stores in the Midwest told Insider that they sometimes drive a full trailer of merchandise hundreds of miles to a store only to find out that it's been closed by local fire safety officials. The driver asked not to be identified by name for fear of retaliation at work.

Rolltainers full of boxes sit in the freezer aisle of a Dollar General in the Midwest.

Insider source

In those cases, the driver contacts the store's district manager, who lets them into the store to unload the merchandise. But that doesn't always happen, the driver said. "Sometimes, the manager will tell us to leave it outside, or we'll bring it back to the distribution center," the driver said.

During a recent delivery, the driver said they arrived to a Dollar General store in Maple Lake, Minnesota and found it closed. Rolltainers of candy, toilet paper, and other merchandise were lined up outside of the building. A sign on the front door said that the store was temporarily closed but would "reopen soon," according to a photo viewed by insider.

Dollar General has faced fines over excess inventory

Dollar General's stores have been the subject of criticism and investigation for years.

OSHA has fined the Goodlettsville, Tennessee-based retailer $15 million for what the agency said were "numerous willful, repeat and serious workplace safety violations related to unsafe conditions in more than 180 inspections nationwide" since 2017.

One recent inspection, conducted at a Dollar General store in Mount Pleasant, Texas, found blocked exits "that exposed employees to fire hazards," OSHA said.

The Midwest truck driver estimated that "between 60% and 80%" of the stores they visit are overcrowded with merchandise, especially consumable dry goods like pet food and bottled water. 

The back room of a Dollar General store in Iowa.

Insider source

Some Dollar General employees have even posted to TikTok about the problem. One video, posted in November by a user identifying himself as a worker at an Indiana store, shows plastic totes and rolltainers cluttering the sales floor.

"The whole aisle is full of totes," he says in the video. "And at each end cap, we have a rolltainer."

@travisbennett767 #dollargeneral #putinaticket #help ♬ original sound - travisbennett767

 

Do you work or shop at a Dollar General that's cluttered and/or had to close? Reach out to Alex Bitter at abitter@insider.com or via encrypted messaging app Signal at (808) 854-4501.

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