Dollar General, headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, is opening its 17,000th store in Fountain, Colorado. The company celebrated the milestone by furthering its mission of serving others through a $17,000 donation to the Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8.
“We are excited to commemorate this milestone in the Centennial State and expand our ability to play a positive role in the 17,000 communities that we’re proud to call home,” said Todd Vasos, Dollar General’s CEO. “Since our founding more than 80 years ago, we have remained focused on helping customers save time and money, and the opening of our 17,000th store demonstrates this ongoing dedication. In Fountain and in each community where Dollar General adds a new location, we seek to be a positive business partner and good corporate citizen through the addition of new career opportunities, the ability for local customers to save money on household essential items and through literacy and education donations from both Dollar General and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation.”
The company surprised Christy McGee from the Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 with the $17,000 donation on Friday, Nov. 13. The funds aim to support ongoing literacy and education programs within the school district.
“Early literacy is the key to opening the world of learning for our children. We are so grateful for this donation from Dollar General, as it will allow the district the opportunity to provide even more books and literacy experiences for our students,” said Laurie Noblitt, Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8’s director of early education. “We are committed to ensuring students experience the joy of reading and learning. In the famous words of Dr. Seuss, ‘The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more you learn, the more places you’ll go!’”
Dollar General opened its first store in Colorado in 2006 and currently employs more than 500 individuals in the state through approximately 60 store locations.
DG was originally founded as a wholesale venture in 1939 by J.L. Turner and Cal Turner, Sr. The father and son duo pioneered the “dollar store” concept in 1955 with the opening of the first Dollar General store in Springfield, Kentucky. Today, DG is ranked No. 112 on the 2020 Fortune 500 list, serves as an employer of choice to approximately 157,000 employees and is comprised of 17,000 company-owned retail locations and more than 25 traditional and DG Fresh distribution centers.