by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
The “Dollar General” store, which opened unofficially last week in Rice, will have an official grand opening starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 3 with free prizes and special deals.
The first 50 shoppers will receive a $10 gift card, and the first 200 shoppers will be given a Dollar General tote bag, as well as being eligible for other giveaways.
The Rice Dollar General store hours are from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Sunday.
“Dollar General is committed to delivering a pleasant shopping experience that includes convenient location, a wide assortment of merchandise and great prices on quality products,” said Dan Nieser, Dollar General’s vice president of real-estate and store development. “We hope our Rice customers will enjoy shopping at Dollar General’s new location.”
Dollar General offers national name-brand products and private brands of food, housewares, seasonal items, cleaning supplies, basic apparel and health-and-beauty products.
Nieser noted that Dollar General stores are very connective with the areas in which they operate. The chain of stores has been honored repeatedly for its efforts to increase literacy. For example, at every cash register in every store, customers can pick up a brochure with a postage-paid reply card that can be mailed in for a referral to a local organization that offers free literacy services. Since the literacy program’s inception in 1993, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded more than $100 million in grants to non-profit organizations, which helped more than six million people start their journey toward becoming literate and going on to continued education or their general-education diplomas.
Dollar General Corp., started 75 years ago, is considered to be the first “dollar store” in the nation. It now has more than 12,000 stores in 43 states, with corporate headquarters in Goodlettsville, Tenn.
Shelly Busse (left) and her daughter, Cindy Busse (right), both of Rice, ponder items on shelves in an aisle of the “Dollar General” store, which opened in Rice Sept. 17. Shelly said her daughter razzed her, saying, “Mom, you’ll never leave Rice now that this dollar store is here.” The store, one of thousands in the United States, offers merchandise priced mostly from one dollar up to $20 and for a few specialty items, more. A grand opening, with door prizes and sales, will take place at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3. Dollar General, headquartered in Tennessee, began with a store that opened in Indiana in 1955.
