Dollar General Is Adding This Surprising Item to Stores. Should You Shop There for It?

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Dollar General is best known for offering affordable household products, along with some grocery items.

Unlike other dollar stores such as Dollar Tree, not all items at Dollar General are $1. But, the products they sell usually do have competitive prices that are easy on your checking account. And, the stores are often conveniently located.

That’s why it’s good news that many Dollar General stores are adding a product that many people could stand to buy more of. Here’s what it is.

Dollar General is branching out into a new product line

For those looking for a more affordable place to buy an important grocery-list item, Dollar General’s new addition is very good news. Dollar General has begun adding fresh produce to its stores.

There are already more than 3,000 Dollar General stores offering fresh fruits and vegetables and another 2,000 stores will be getting these grocery items on their shelves this year.

The push to add produce to its stores is part of the store’s “DG Fresh” initiative, which was launched in 2021. The store’s goal is to provide more affordable groceries by owning the distribution channels for fresh and frozen foods, thus cutting out the middleman and allowing Dollar General to sell produce (and other items) at a lower price than consumers would traditionally pay while still making a profit.

With as much as 75% of the U.S. population living five miles or less from a Dollar General store, the store’s commitment to “increase affordable access to food through new stores and product availability,” could make a meaningful difference for people who do not live close to grocery stores and who therefore often struggle to find healthy foods at a reasonable price that they can buy regularly.

Should you buy your produce at Dollar General?

If your Dollar General has already made produce available, or if it will do so this year, then it’s worth giving the store aisles a look to see what its offerings are.

The produce section of Dollar General stores has gotten some mixed reviews on Reddit, with one user describing it as a “joke,” because “Half the bins were empty and dirty, the ones that had stuff in them were a joke — limes that were as big as a quarter. Some red onions that were rotten clean through.” Other Redditors, however, said their product sections had pretty good product offerings. “The produce is surprisingly good-looking when shipped in.”

Since there could be regional variation from one store to the next, it’s worth checking out what your local store has available. You may be pleasantly surprised to discover that you can get some of your fruits and veggies at a low price from a store that’s convenient to shop at. While you shouldn’t necessarily expect the same selection as you’d find at a bigger grocery store with a full produce section, picking up some items from Dollar General could be an affordable way to add more of these healthy items to your diet without giving your credit cards too much of a workout.

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