DOLLAR GENERAL CORP (DG)

ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS.

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General

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This discussion and analysis is based on, should be read with, and is qualified in its entirety by, the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements and related notes, as well as our consolidated financial statements and the related Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations as contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 30, 2026. It also should be read in conjunction with the disclosure under “Cautionary Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in this report.

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Executive Overview

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We are the largest discount retailer in the United States by number of stores, with 21,055 stores located in 48 U.S. states and Mexico as of May 1, 2026, with the greatest concentration of stores in the southern, southwestern, midwestern and eastern United States. We offer a broad selection of merchandise, including consumable products such as food, paper and cleaning products, health and beauty products and pet supplies, and non-consumable products such as seasonal merchandise, home decor and domestics, and basic apparel. Our merchandise includes national brands from leading manufacturers, as well as our own private brand selections with prices often at substantial discounts to national brands. We offer our customers these national brand and private brand products at everyday low prices (typically $10 or less) from our convenient small-box locations.

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We believe our convenient store formats, locations, and broad selection of high-quality products at compelling values have driven our substantial growth and financial success over the years and through a variety of economic cycles. We are mindful that the majority of our customers are value-conscious, and many have low and/or fixed incomes. As a result, we are intensely focused on helping our customers make the most of their spending dollars. The primary macroeconomic factors that affect our core customers include unemployment and underemployment rates, inflation (including, but not limited to, high or rising gas prices), wage growth, changes in federal and state tax policies, interest rates, changes in U.S. and global trade policy (including resulting price increases), and changes in U.S. government policy and assistance programs (including cost of living adjustments and work requirements), such as SNAP, unemployment benefits, and economic stimulus programs. Finally, significant unseasonable or unusual weather patterns or extreme weather can impact customer shopping behaviors.

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Uncertainty remains regarding the potential impact of tariffs on consumer behavior and our business. Tariff rates on both direct imports and domestic purchases did not materially impact our financial results for the first quarter of 2026. The tariff environment remains dynamic, and the specific tariffs applicable to goods imported by us and our suppliers into the U.S. may continue to evolve. Tariff rate increases or expansions of tariff coverage affecting the products that we sell could have a significant impact on our business and on our customers’ budgets. We continue to monitor developments and will evaluate the impact of any tariff rate changes on our business and take action to mitigate such impact. There can be no assurance we will be successful in our efforts, or that price increases, if they become necessary, will not adversely affect customer behavior. Following the February 20, 2026 decision by the United States Supreme Court invalidating certain tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, we submitted claims with U.S. Customs and Border Protection seeking refunds for such tariffs that we previously paid. The exact timing and amount of refunds remain subject to uncertainty.

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Our core customers are often among the first to be affected by negative or uncertain economic conditions and among the last to feel the effects of improving economic conditions, particularly when trends are inconsistent and of an uncertain duration. Our customers continue to feel constrained in the current macroeconomic environment and to experience elevated expenses that generally comprise a large portion of their household budgets, such as rent, healthcare, energy and fuel prices, as well as cost inflation in frequently purchased household products (including food), which we expect will continue to pressure our customers’ spending overall.

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We remain committed to our long-term operating priorities as we consistently strive to improve our performance while retaining our customer-centric focus. These priorities include: 1) driving profitable sales growth, 2) capturing growth opportunities, 3) enhancing our position as a low-cost operator, and 4) investing in the growth and development of our teams.

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We seek to drive profitable sales growth through initiatives aimed at increasing customer traffic and average transaction amount. Historically, sales in our consumables category, which tend to have lower gross margins, have been key drivers of net sales and customer traffic, while sales in our non-consumables categories, which tend to have higher gross margins, have been key drivers of more profitable sales growth and average transaction amount. Our sales mix remains heavily weighted towards consumables, although non-consumables have outpaced consumables in same-store sales growth for the last five consecutive quarters. Certain of our initiatives are intended to better optimize our sales mix; however, there can be no assurances that these efforts will be successful.

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As we work to provide everyday low prices and meet our customers’ affordability needs, we remain focused on enhancing our margins through inventory shrink and damage reduction initiatives (which helped to partially mitigate our significant fuel costs), as well as pricing and markdown optimization, the DG Media Network (our platform that connects brand partners with our customers), effective category management and inventory reduction efforts, distribution and transportation efficiencies, private brands penetration and global sourcing strategies. Several of our strategic and other sales-driving initiatives are also designed to capture growth opportunities.

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Inventory shrink has significantly improved from elevated levels in recent years, and although damages remain elevated, we have made progress reducing damages for the last five consecutive quarters. We continue to implement actions designed to drive sustained improvement in both shrink and damages.

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We continue to implement and invest in certain strategic initiatives intended to drive profitable sales growth with both new and existing customers and capture long-term growth opportunities. Such initiatives include providing our customers with a variety of shopping access points and even greater value and convenience by leveraging and developing digital tools and technology, such as our Dollar General app, which contains a variety of tools to enhance the shopping experience. We remain focused on enhancing both the in-store and digital shopping experience, while driving operational efficiency. The delivery component of our digital initiatives contributes meaningfully to our comparable store sales performance. Third-party delivery services and myDG® Delivery are available in the majority of our stores, providing added convenience and incremental sales. We believe these digital efforts will contribute to the continued growth of our DG Media Network.

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We have continued our efforts to improve the performance and profitability of our mature stores through our remodel program, which includes both full remodels under Project Renovate and partial remodels under Project Elevate. Together, these remodel programs are designed to refresh and optimize merchandising and store presentation, enhance the shopping experience for our customers, and potentially mitigate future repairs and maintenance expense.

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We also remain focused on capturing growth opportunities. In 2026, we plan to open approximately 450 new stores (as well as approximately 10 stores in Mexico), remodel approximately 2,000 stores through Project Renovate, remodel approximately 2,250 stores through Project Elevate, and relocate approximately 20 stores, for a total of 4,730 real estate projects. As part of this plan, in the first quarter of 2026 we opened a total of 195 new stores, including 5 stores in Mexico, remodeled 659 stores through Project Renovate and 711 stores through Project Elevate, relocated 6 stores and closed 33 stores.

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We expect store format innovation to allow us to capture additional growth opportunities as we continue to utilize the most productive of our various Dollar General store formats based on the specific market opportunity. In 2026, we are utilizing store formats averaging approximately 8,500 square feet of selling space for the significant majority of new stores. These formats allow for expanded high-capacity-cooler counts, an extended queue line, and a broader product assortment, including an enhanced non-consumable offering, a larger health and beauty section, and produce in select stores.

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Finally, pOpshelf, our unique retail concept focused on categories such as seasonal and home décor, health and beauty, home cleaning supplies, and party and entertainment goods, represents an additional potential growth opportunity. At the end of the first quarter of 2026, we operated 180 standalone pOpshelf stores. We continue to take focused actions designed to improve the performance of pOpshelf stores, although there can be no assurances that our efforts will be successful.

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We always seek ways to reduce or control costs that do not affect our customers’ shopping experiences. We plan to continue enhancing our position as a low-cost operator over time while employing ongoing cost discipline to reduce certain expenses as a percentage of sales. Nonetheless, we seek to maintain flexibility to invest in the business as

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necessary to enhance our long-term competitiveness and profitability. From time to time, our strategic initiatives, including without limitation those discussed above, have required and may continue to require us to incur upfront expenses for which there may not be an immediate return in terms of sales or enhanced profitability.

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Certain of our operating expenses, such as wage rates and occupancy costs, have continued to increase in recent years due primarily to market forces such as labor availability, increases in minimum wage rates, inflation, property rents and interest rates. Significant or rapid increases to federal, state or local minimum wage rates or salary levels could significantly adversely affect our earnings if we are not able to otherwise offset these increased labor costs elsewhere in our business.

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We believe ongoing inflationary pressures could continue to affect our vendors and customers and our operating results. Both inflation and higher interest rates have significantly increased new store opening costs and occupancy costs in recent years and, while new store returns remain strong, these increased costs have negatively impacted our projected new store returns and influenced our new store growth plans. Furthermore, we incurred significantly higher fuel costs in the first quarter of 2026, and we expect this trend to continue for an uncertain duration.

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Our teams are a competitive advantage, and we proactively seek ways to continue investing in their development. Our goal is to create an environment that attracts, develops, and retains talented personnel, particularly at the store manager level, as employees who are promoted from within our company generally have longer tenures and are greater contributors to improvements in our financial performance. We are taking actions designed to

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

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This discussion and analysis should be read with, and is qualified in its entirety by, the Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto. It also should be read in conjunction with the Cautionary Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and the Risk Factors disclosures set forth in the Introduction and in Item 1A of this report, respectively.

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Executive Overview

​

We are the largest discount retailer in the United States by number of stores, with 20,959 stores located in 48 U.S. states and Mexico as of February 27, 2026, with the greatest concentration of stores in the southern, southwestern, midwestern and eastern United States. We offer a broad selection of merchandise, including consumable products such as food, paper and cleaning products, health and beauty products and pet supplies, and non-consumable products such as seasonal merchandise, home decor and domestics, and basic apparel. Our merchandise includes national brands from leading manufacturers, as well as our own private brand selections with prices often at substantial discounts to national brands. We offer our customers these national brand and private brand products at everyday low prices (typically $10 or less) from our convenient small-box locations.

​

We believe our convenient store formats, locations, and broad selection of high-quality products at compelling values have driven our substantial growth and financial success over the years and through a variety of economic cycles. We are mindful that the majority of our customers are value-conscious, and many have low and/or fixed incomes. As a result, we are intensely focused on helping our customers make the most of their spending dollars. The primary macroeconomic factors that affect our core customers include unemployment and underemployment rates, inflation, wage growth, changes in federal and state tax policies, interest rates, changes in U.S. and global trade policy (including price increases resulting from tariffs), and changes in U.S. government policy and assistance programs (including cost of living adjustments and work requirements), such as SNAP, unemployment benefits, and economic stimulus programs. Finally, significant unseasonable or unusual weather patterns or extreme weather can impact customer shopping behaviors.

​

Uncertainty remains regarding the potential impact of tariffs on consumer behavior and our business. Tariff rates on both direct imports and domestic purchases did not materially impact our financial results in 2025. The tariff environment remains dynamic, and the specific tariffs applicable to goods imported by us and our suppliers into the U.S. may continue to evolve. Currently announced tariff rates, as well as any rate increases or expansions of tariff coverage affecting the products that we sell, could have a significant impact on our business and on our customers’ budgets. Further, on February 20, 2026, the United States Supreme Court invalidated the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Significant uncertainty exists regarding potential tariff refunds and replacement tariffs under other statutes. We continue to monitor developments and to evaluate and implement mitigation strategies to address the potential sales and margin impact of current and potential future tariffs, as well as to take various actions designed to minimize price increases for our customers. There can be no assurance we will be successful in our efforts, or that price increases will not adversely affect customer behavior.

​

Our core customers are often among the first to be affected by negative or uncertain economic conditions and among the last to feel the effects of improving economic conditions, particularly when trends are inconsistent and of an uncertain duration. Our customers continue to feel constrained in the current macroeconomic environment and to experience elevated expenses that generally comprise a large portion of their household budgets, such as rent, healthcare, energy and fuel prices, as well as cost inflation in frequently purchased household products (including food), which we expect will continue to pressure our customers’ spending overall.

​

We remain committed to our long-term operating priorities as we consistently strive to improve our performance while retaining our customer-centric focus. These priorities include: 1) driving profitable sales growth, 2) capturing growth opportunities, 3) enhancing our position as a low-cost operator, and 4) investing in the growth and development of our teams.

​

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Table of Contents

We seek to drive profitable sales growth through initiatives aimed at increasing customer traffic and average transaction amount. Historically, sales in our consumables category, which tend to have lower gross margins, have been key drivers of net sales and customer traffic, while sales in our non-consumables categories, which tend to have higher gross margins, have been key drivers of more profitable sales growth and average transaction amount. Our sales mix remains heavily weighted towards consumables, although we saw slight improvement in our sales mix in 2025 compared to the prior year. Certain of our initiatives are intended to better optimize our sales mix; however, there can be no assurances that these efforts will be successful.

​

As we work to provide everyday low prices and meet our customers’ affordability needs, we remain focused on enhancing our margins through inventory shrink and damage reduction initiatives, as well as pricing and markdown optimization, the DG Media Network (our platform that connects brand partners with our customers), effective category management and inventory reduction efforts, distribution and transportation efficiencies, private brands penetration and global sourcing strategies. Several of our strategic and other sales-driving initiatives are also designed to capture growth opportunities.

​

Inventory shrink has significantly improved from prior elevated levels, and although damages remain elevated, we made progress reducing damages in 2025. We continue to implement actions designed to drive sustained improvement in both shrink and damages.

​

We continue to implement and invest in certain strategic initiatives intended to drive profitable sales growth with both new and existing customers and capture long-term growth opportunities. Such initiatives include providing our customers with a variety of shopping access points and even greater value and convenience by leveraging and developing digital tools and technology, such as our Dollar General app, which contains a variety of tools to enhance the shopping experience. We remain focused on enhancing both the in-store and digital shopping experience, while driving operational efficiency. The delivery component of our digital initiatives is becoming a meaningful contributor to our comparable store sales performance. Third-party delivery services and myDG® Delivery are available in the majority of our stores, providing added convenience and incremental sales. We believe these digital efforts will contribute to the continued growth of our DG Media Network.

​

In 2025, we expanded our efforts to improve the performance and profitability of our mature stores through the rollout of an incremental remodel program, Project Elevate. This partial-remodel initiative is designed to refresh and optimize the merchandising in our stores, and in turn, enhance the shopping experience for our customers, while also potentially mitigating future repairs and maintenance expense. Project Elevate remodels are incremental to our full-remodel program, Project Renovate.

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We also remain focused on capturing growth opportunities. In 2025, we opened a total of 589 new stores, including 8 stores in Mexico, remodeled 2,000 stores through Project Renovate and 2,254 stores through Project Elevate, relocated 47 stores and closed 290 stores. In 2026, we plan to open approximately 450 new stores (as well as approximately 10 stores in Mexico), remodel approximately 2,000 stores through Project Renovate, remodel approximately 2,250 stores through Project Elevate, and relocate approximately 20 stores, for a total of 4,730 real estate projects.

​

pOpshelf, our unique retail concept focused on categories such as seasonal and home décor, health and beauty, home cleaning supplies, and party and entertainment goods, represents an additional potential growth opportunity. At the end of 2025, we operated 180 standalone pOpshelf stores. We continue to take focused actions designed to improve the performance of pOpshelf stores, although there can be no assurances that our efforts will be successful.

​

We expect store format innovation to allow us to capture additional growth opportunities as we continue to utilize the most productive of our various Dollar General store formats based on the specific market opportunity. In 2025, we began utilizing store formats averaging approximately 8,500 square feet of selling space for the significant majority of new stores. These formats allow for expanded high-capacity-cooler counts, an extended queue line, and a broader product assortment, including an enhanced non-consumable offering, a larger health and beauty section, and produce in select stores.

​

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Table of Contents

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We always seek ways to reduce or control costs that do not affect our customers’ shopping experiences. We plan to continue enhancing our position as a low-cost operator over time while employing ongoing cost discipline to reduce certain expenses as a percentage of sales. Nonetheless, we seek to maintain flexibility to invest in the business as necessary to enhance our long-term competitiveness and profitability. From time to time, our strategic initiatives, including without limitation those discussed above, have required and may continue to require us to incur upfront expenses for which there may not be an immediate return in terms of sales or enhanced profitability.

​

Certain of our operating expenses, such as wage rates and occupancy costs have continued to increase in recent years, due primarily to market forces such as labor availability, increases in minimum wage rates, inflation, property rents and interest rates. Significant or rapid increases to federal, state or local minimum wage rates or salary levels could significantly adversely affect our earnings if we are not able to otherwise offset these increased labor costs elsewhere in our business.

​

We believe ongoing inflationary pressures could continue to affect our vendors and customers and our operating results. Both inflation and higher interest rates have significantly increased new store opening costs and occupancy costs in recent years and, while new store returns remain strong, these increased costs have negatively impacted our projected new store returns and influenced our new store growth plans.

​

Our teams are a competitive advantage, and we proactively seek ways to continue investing in their development. Our goal is to create an environment that attracts, develops, and retains talented personnel, particularly at the store manager level, as employees who are promoted from within our company generally have longer tenures and are greater contributors to improvements in our financial performance. We are taking actions designed to continue reducing our higher than targeted store manager turnover, including through budgeting and allocation of labor hours and simplifying in-store activities.

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Key Performance Indicators

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We utilize key performance indicators, which are defined below, in the management of our business including same-store sales, average sales per square foot, and inventory turnover. We use these measures to maximize profitability and for decisions about the allocation of resources. Each of

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