Dollar General Remodel- Everything You Need To Know
We have all seen it, the Sunday posts talking about they hit the mother load at a Dollar General remodel. Everyone always has the same questions I had, so I did some digging. Every week Dollar General stores in select store locations will remodel.
What is a Dollar General Remodel?
A Dollar General remodel is a change to the store that can include several different scenerios. They can be changing a store to a non-consumable initiative (NCI) store, or possibly a Dollar General Market, they can be changing the store to bring in fresh produce, or get rid of certain sections in the store giving it an updated layout. Below are some tips on understanding a Dollar General remodel, what to look for, when to shop, and becoming successful at Dollar General remodels. The remodel of Dollar General has brought about substantial changes to the stores. Gone are the hanging clothes and most shoes will also have been removed. In order to update their brand, DG has introduced a range of new and varied offerings in home, domestics, housewares and party items, which can be viewed under the DG Home sign and located in the store's middle section, these are often known as NCI stores (non-consumable initiative) They have also tried to introduce their customers to the availability to more food options like frozen food, and fresh foods like fruit etc.
Why is the Dollar General Remodel So Big?
The Sunday before the store closes for the remodel, items are supposed to be removed from the shelf. A list of these items are sent to the store and then are supposed to be removed. These items are coded to show $0.01 or $0.00 when scanned by employees to alert them to removed them from the shelf. Sometimes for many reasons, just like penny items, these items can often be overlooked. This is the big draw is for people to come and get hundreds of penny items and deals.
How Will I know if my Dollar General is about to remodel?
There are several ways to tell if your Dollar General is going to be remodeling soon.
If your store still has clothing that is hung, chances are your store will be remodeling at some point. Keep an eye on the clothes to see if these items get started being marked down. This is one of the signs they are starting to get rid of these items. You will look for the orange POG clearance stickers.
Search for signs of 50% discounts indicating reductions across the store. Not a couple of tags here and there, but a good amount of major reductions on staple pieces (not just those for seasonal) You will want to look for orange tags on your CORE (everyday) The typical remodel markdowns may include perishables, such as food that needs to be kept cold and items which could possibly expire, as well as essentials like salt, sugar, spices, pepper grinders and other things that are difficult to store. The most common items to look for is exercise equipment, clothes, craft supplies/ What you can expect to find in each store is slightly different – but generally it's worth keeping an eye out for your orange tags on CORE items. I found a lot of the Mossy Oak stuff was 50%, belts, shirts, mens boxers. I do not have a UPC for these items right now but I am working on it. Just search Mossy Oak in your app. Also check the socks and underware from Hanes. I was able to score a sweet price on those items also. These items will be 50% off leading up to the bog sale
One of the easiest ways is to keep an ear out for remodel news from employees. A lot of employees will tell customers they will be closing a certain day to start a remodel. This is the best and most reliable way to know for certain that your DG will be remodeling. If the manager talks about it or you ask, it’s ok to find out the remodel date, this will help you gauge when you need to go to find the penny deals.
Some report storage trailers being brought into your store and being parked in the back or side of the store. This is where items that they need to store will be kept while the store is closed. Some stores even have visible signage in the front stating a date it will close and reopen.
I am suspecting my store may be remodeling, what do I do next?
If you are seeing the signs listed above, you will want to add some of these items to your Dollar General app under the list. This should show you when these items will start to be discounted. When you start seeing these items being discounted you need to find out the date of the remodel.
The best way to gauge this is to check the frozen food. The frozen food will 50% off the leading into the week before the big day you need to go. Most of the ones I have seen the frozen food goes 50% off the Sunday/Monday the week before the store will close. This means the big sale will be the following Sunday. Frozen food does not often penny, so you will want to grab these the day it goes 50%, people will buy these items as soon as they go 50%, so be prepared.
Also keep in mind that not everything in the store will penny, and just like the weekly penny items and the items that penny are supposed to be removed from the shelf, so this is not a guarantee that you will find a ton of penny items. What you will want to do is check the app about 2 am on a Sunday that it is to penny and check of certain items have pennied. The items will penny the week before the store is to close. I posted the sign that was on the door of my store. It was closing 09/24 for remodel, so the big sale was 09/17.
Here is a frozen Food UPC you can check, Once this goes to 50% you can check the following Sunday for penny items. Check about 2 a.m. EST Sunday Morning
There are some core items that penny during remodels that I have collected over doing this research. At our store it was the exercise weights, clothing like the Mossy Oak shirts, a CORE candle, some people swear by the banquet pot pies. If these penny after 2 am the Sunday of the supposed remodel, then it is on.
Here are some UPC Codes to check out: These are items that often penny. If these show up after 2 a.m. Sunday the week following the frozen food discount, you know to show up at the store before opening.
Hefty Soak Proof Foam Plates, 9-Inch – 85 ct 13700625107
Pro Strength Yoga Mat 672125047804
Pro Strength Plate weight 672125072684
Kettlebell 672125047798
It is now time to shop, here is what you need to know for the big day.
Get there early! Some people show up as early as 3-4 am to get in line.
People travel and go in groups to get the deals, so you may wanna get some friends or family to go with you.
Be prepared to see the crazy. Most remodels go seamlessly but there are some shoppers that are brutal and can be a bit crazy. Just be prepared.
Take bags that you can carry stuff in as apparently the carts are few and far between that day.
Know what section of the store you want to go to. Some like to go straight to the craft section, some go to the housewares.
Choose wisely, remember that this is items you will be stuck with, so if it truly is something you will use then go for it, but some people get obsessed and caught up and buy stuff that is useless to them and many others.
HAVE FUN. This is the key to doing this for the experience or just to have fun,
Check your store after it reopens often as stock will come back in that may have pennied recently and it is being restocked.
Now that you know how to successfully shop a remodel, enjoy this new journey of finding deals at Dollar General
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