Dollar General to bring expanded beauty offering to 300 stores this year

Dive Brief:

To cater to more beauty customers, Dollar General is introducing new store layouts dubbed “Beauty Reinvention” designed to highlight its assortment of beauty, skin and hair care products, the retailer announced on Wednesday. The new layout will be integrated into 300 new stores this fiscal year, the company said.
The retailer launched the first Beauty Reinvention stores in Feb. The format increases the square footage for the beauty category, grows the skin care selection by 50%, soap and shower products by 30% and expands the hair care and color selection.
Dollar General is also introducing three exclusive product lines across the country this month, including skin care brand Joy Works, hair care brand Curl Rhythm and hair care brand Yes! Honey. The retailer is adding more than 1,000 additional beauty products to its Beauty Reinvention stores this year.

Dive Insight:

With Beauty Reinvention, Dollar General is trying to create a beauty destination.

With Beauty Reinvention, Dollar General aims to create a one-stop beauty destination.

“At DG, we are always listening to our customers, and in response we are investing in and expanding our beauty, skin and hair care offerings to meet their needs,” Amanda Wilson, senior beauty buyer at Dollar General, said in a statement. “Springtime marks an important moment to reset and refresh your self-care routine. We are excited to welcome new products that encompass the quality, performance and affordability that is expected from our brands and hope our shoppers enjoy the new experience.”

Part of that response is the company’s new private label lines, wherein all products are $6 or less are “derived from quality ingredients,” and are cruelty-free.

The expansion of Dollar General’s beauty section follows the company’s 2021 introduction of a private label skincare line under its Believe Beauty brand. The line is vegan, cruelty-free and does not contain parabens, phthalates, mineral oil, petroleum, triclosan or animal products.

Beauty is also a focus at the company’s new Popshelf concept, which courts customers in a higher income range than its traditional base while creating a treasure hunt experience.

As it tests out store concepts and private-label products, the retailer also seeks to hire more workers and open more locations. Dollar General CEO Jeff Owen earlier this month said the retailer wants to invest $100 million in stores, including additional store-level staffing. This year the retailer plans to open more than 1,000 locations, remodel 2,000 current stores, and relocate 120 storefronts.

The retailer has recently been scrutinized for failing to meet workplace safety standards. Last August, the Department of Labor announced that it found multiple workplace safety violations, including blocked exit routes, dangerously stacked merchandise boxes and difficult-to-access electrical panels in three stores in Georgia. The dollar store chain was the first company to be added to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Severe Violator Unit under its widened standards for unsafe working conditions, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.