Dollar General’s latest store concept to close Fairview Heights location after two years
Dollar General’s new store concept, pOpshelf, will permanently close the doors of its Fairview Heights location.
The store, located at 6101 N. Illinois St., opened in early 2023 and is currently listed as “temporarily closed” on the pOpshelf website. However, an employee at the location, who wouldn’t provide their name, said Thursday that they will continue to open the store when they can, adding that inconsistent staffing is an issue.
This closing follows similar recent announcements of retailers Joann and Forever 21 closing all store locations, including stores in Fairview Heights.
An official closing date for the metro-east pOpshelf store is currently unavailable. An inquiry sent by the BND to Dollar General resulted in the following response:
“At pOpshelf, we continually look at our stores to determine how we can best serve our customers. After a thorough review, a decision was made to close our pOpshelf location at 6101 North Illinois Street in Fairview Heights, IL, in the coming weeks. Impacted employees will have the opportunity to transfer to a nearby pOpshelf or Dollar General store.”
Dallas Alley, land use and development director for Fairview Heights, said that the closing was unexpected. He said the commercial real estate broker for the site was also surprised by the closure since the business currently holds a long-term lease on the building.
Closing signage was posted at the store early this week. Posters reading, “Store Closing Sale!” “Everything must go!” and “All sales final” were in the store’s front windows.
While the closing of the store seems sudden, it is one of many announced last week after Dollar General Corporation reported its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024 results.
The Fairview Heights location is one of 45 stores closing nationwide.
“After analyzing business performance and revised outlooks for our current portfolio pOpshelf locations, we identified 51 store closure candidates based on financial and operational considerations from our test and learn phase,” Todd Vasos, Dollar General’s chief executive officer, said during the company’s Q4 2024 earning call.
“We plan to convert six of these 51 locations to Dollar General stores and close the remaining 45 stores. This will leave 180 stores remaining as part of the pOpshelf banner.”
The company also decided to close 96 Dollar General stores, according to the report. This plan is to be completed in the first quarter of the company’s fiscal year 2025, which ends Jan. 31, 2026.
A list closing Dollar General stores was not released. The effect on metro-east stores was not addressed in Dollar General’s response to the BND’s inquiry.
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About pOpshelf
Dollar General’s pOpshelf concept was introduced in October 2020 and designed to “engage customers with a fun, affordable and stress-free shopping experience where they can find on-trend seasonal and home décor, health and beauty must-haves, home cleaning supplies, party goods, entertaining needs and much more,” according to a press release from that time.
The first pOpshelf stores opened in July 2021 in Tennessee. There are currently pOpshelf stores in 21 states.
For more info about pOpshelf, visit popshelf.com. To learn more about Dollar General, visit dollargeneral.com.
