turner and son wholesale type public traded as nyse dg s & p 500 component industry discount retailer founded 1939 1939 in scottsville kentucky founders j.l. turner cal turner sr. headquarters 100 mission ridge goodlettsville tennessee united states number of locations 12 483 1 january 2016 areas served contiguous united states except for the northwest and north dakota . key people todd vasos chairman & ceo 2 david m. tehle executive vice president & cfo products clothing cleaning supplies home decor health & beauty aids pet supplies toys seasonal items and grocery revenue 20.369 billion 2015 1 operating income 1.940 billion 2015 1 net income 1.165 billion 2015 1 total assets 11.258 billion 2015 1 divisions dollar general market website dollar general dollar general store in oscoda michigan dollar general corporation is an american chain of variety stores headquartered in goodlettsville tennessee . as of january 2016 update dollar general operated over 12 400 stores 1 in all u.s. states except alaska hawaii idaho montana north dakota washington and wyoming . 3 the company acquired the 280 stores of the p.n. hirsh division of interco inc. in 1983 and in 1985 added 206 stores and a warehouse from eagle family discount stores also from interco inc. 4 in recent years the chain has started constructing more stand alone stores typically in areas not served by another general merchandise retailer . in some cases stores are within a few city blocks of each other . dollar general offers both name brand and generic merchandise including off brand goods and closeouts of name brand items in the same store often on the same shelf . although it has the word dollar in the name dollar general is not a dollar store by the strict definition of that term as most of its products are priced at more than 1.00 . however goods are usually sold at set price points in the range of .50 to 60 dollars excluding articles such as phone cards and loadable store gift cards . outside of larger urban markets and small cities dollar general often serves smaller rural areas which do not have the customer base for a regular sized discount department store such as beaver oklahoma in the panhandle region where the closest small city with larger stores is liberal kansas an hour north . it competes in the dollar store format with national chains family dollar and dollar tree regional chains such as fred s in the southeast and numerous independently owned stores . since 2000 dollar general has experimented with stores that carry a greater selection of grocery items . these stores similar to the walmart supercenter but much smaller operate under the name dollar general market . contents 1 history 1.1 acquisition and spinoff 2 dollar general market 3 motorsports connection 4 dg brand 5 expansion plans 6 controversies 7 references 8 external links history edit the stores were founded in 1939 by cal turner sr. and his father j.l. turner in scottsville kentucky as j.l. turner & son inc. their descendant cal turner jr. later worked as ceo of the firm for 25 years . 5 in 1968 the business changed its name to dollar general corporation . in 2007 the company was acquired by the private equity firm kohlberg kravis roberts kkr which took the company public in 2009 . 6 the first dollar general store opened in scottsville kentucky on june 1 1955 the concept was that no item in the store would cost more than one dollar . the idea became a success and other stores owned by j.l. turner and his son cal turner were quickly converted . by 1957 annual sales of dollar general s 29 stores were 5 million . the turners did not reach this level of success without obstacles . james luther j.l. turner s father died in an accident in 1902 when j.l. was only 11 . j.l. had to quit school so he could work the family farm and help provide for his mother and siblings . he never completed his education . j.l. knew his limited education demanded that he become a quick study of the world around him . after two unsuccessful attempts at retailing j.l. became a traveling dry goods salesman for a nashville wholesale grocer . j.l. left the sales job after 10 years and settled his family in scottsville kentucky . during the depression he began buying and liquidating bankrupt general stores . j.l. s only child cal turner sr. accompanied his father to these closeouts at a young age gaining valuable business knowledge and skills . in october 1939 j.l. and cal opened j.l. turner and son wholesale with an initial investment of 5 000 each . wholesaling quickly gave way to retailing j.l. s third and final attempt at retailing . the switch to retailing resulted in annual sales above 2 million by the early 1950s . j.l. died in 1964 . four years later the company he co founded went public as dollar general corporation posting annual sales of more than 40 million and net income in excess of 1.5 million . in 1977 cal turner jr. who joined the company in 1965 as the third generation turner succeeded his father as president of dollar general . cal jr. led the company until his retirement in 2002 . under his leadership the company grew to more than 6 000 stores and 6 billion in sales . effective june 3 2015 chief operating officer todd vasos replaced rick dreiling as chief executive . dreiling will remain senior advisor and chairman until his retirement in january 2016 . 7 acquisition and spinoff edit on july 6 2007 all shares of dollar general stock were acquired by private equity investors for 22 per share . an investment group consisting of affiliates of kohlberg kravis roberts kkr gs capital partners an affiliate of goldman sachs citigroup private equity and other co investors completed an acquisition of dollar general corporation for a total enterprise value of 7.3 billion . as a part of the transition to a privately held company dollar general assessed each location at the end of its lease against a model known as ez stores . this assessment included evaluating whether the location had a loading dock garbage dumpsters adequate parking and acceptable profitability . stores that did not pass this evaluation were relocated or closed . over 400 stores were closed as part of this initiative . 8 in august 2009 the company announced it will file for an initial public offering turning the company again into a publicly traded corporation . 9 although the timing of the initial public offering ipo was not announced by dollar general or kkr dollar general filed on august 20 2009 for an initial offering of up to 750 million 10 the return of dollar general to public ownership has been estimated to deliver up to a 30 % increase in value to kkr over the two year period it will have been private making it a rare gem in kkr s current portfolio . dollar general market edit dollar general market industry grocery variety store founded 2009 headquarters goodlettsville tennessee u.s. products grocery dairy meat produce dry foods frozen foods snacks and beer . other clothing cleaning supplies home decor health & beauty aids pet supplies toys tobacco products and seasonal items . website dollar general.com market dollar general market is a chain of hypermarkets that sells everything a dollar general store sells plus an expanded selection of groceries as well as fresh produce . it is similar to a walmart supercenter but smaller . their store brands include clover valley smart & simple dg home and everpet . dollar general market store in nashville georgia motorsports connection edit the dollar general sponsored truck of jason leffler in 2012 for several years dollar general has had a connection with motorsports particularly in nascar . the company is currently a primary sponsor for joe gibbs racing . dollar general sponsored brian vickers in the nationwide series in 2013 . dollar general became a primary sponsor for matt kenseth in the sprint cup series starting in 2013 . 11 dollar general and turner formerly braun racing have been partnered together since 2008 with the team previously sponsoring cars for frank cicci racing and kevin harvick incorporated . in 2010 dollar general sponsored some races in the camping world truck series for kyle busch motorsports with kyle busch in the no. 18 toyota tundra and sponsored kyle busch s motorsports no. 51 toyota tundra for four races in 2014 with busch driving three and erik jones driving one . 12 dollar general was the title sponsor for nationwide series races held in charlotte every fall chicagoland every summer and phoenix in the spring . on may 23 2016 dollar general announced they would withdraw its sponsorship from nascar at the end of the 2016 season . 13 dollar general is also active in the verizon indycar series since 2008 serving as the primary sponsor for owner driver sarah fisher s sarah fisher racing team . in 2010 both fisher and graham rahal drove part time for the team finishing 9th at the honda grand prix of st. petersburg . fisher also led the field at the peak antifreeze & motor oil indy 300 at chicagoland speedway . in 2011 dollar general continued to sponsor sarah fisher racing the team was still part time but ed carpenter drove for nines races starting at the 2011 indianapolis 500 . dg brand edit dollar general created its abbreviation the letters dg as a brand for inexpensive household products sold through the dollar general stores . dg is also the company s nyse ticker symbol . in 2010 dollar general was able to outbid the famous italian fashion house dolce and gabbana that sells very expensive fashion products under another dg label in the acquisition of the dg symbol as the internet address . the domain dg.com was purchased in a private sale from emc corporation the successor to the defunct data general computer manufacturer in june 2010 making dollar general the 107th large company in the world to own their initials as a 2 letter internet address . the dg symbol is used by the company for a variety of in house products like dg home 14 dg baby 15 dg health and dg body . in march 2010 dollar general announced that it would become the exclusive distributor for rexall products . rexall vitamins and supplements had already started appearing at dollar general stores with a full line of rexall products followed by fall 2010 . 16 expansion plans edit on january 3 2011 dollar general announced plans to add 625 new stores in the 35 states where the chain already has stores plus connecticut nevada and new hampshire and to hire 6 000 employees . the company also planned to improve or move 550 existing stores . on august 18 2014 the company lodged a competing bid of 9.7 billion against dollar tree for family dollar . the bid was rejected on august 20 2014 by the family dollar board which said it would proceed with the deal with dollar tree . 17 in september 2015 the janesville city council in wisconsin approved an agreement to bring a dollar general distribution center to the town . the center will create more than 500 jobs in the area . 18 on september 15 2016 dollar general announced plans to hire 10 000 new employees and open 900 new stores in fiscal 2016 and 1 000 in fiscal 2017 . dollar general had operated 13 000 stores as of august 2016 . 19 controversies edit on april 30 2001 dollar general corp was liable for making false statements or failing to disclose adverse facts about the company s financial results 20 and paid 162 000 000 for settlement . on april 30 2001 dollar