Arkansas is set to become the center of Dollar General’s national supply chain. A $140 million distribution center is coming to North Little Rock, creating nearly 300 jobs, Dollar General CEO Jeff Owen said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders praised the partnership between the region and Dollar General, noting that food insecurity is an issue challenging many communities across Arkansas.
“It doesn’t matter whether you're in the rice fields of Arkansas or the rolling hills of the Ozarks,” Sanders said, “every single place you go there’s a good chance you’re going to be close to a Dollar General.” According to Gov. Sanders, new initiatives by stores like Dollar General are essential to filling in the food deserts across Arkansas.
“Just as common in a one stoplight town as it is here in Little Rock, many of our citizens are challenged with food insecurity. Dollar General has stepped up to take that issue head on.”
The new distribution center will be equipped with cold produce freezers, enabling Dollar General stores to offer a larger variety of fresh food in stores. Dollar General first began to sell fresh produce in August 2022, selecting ten Little Rock stores to test out the new program.
Sanders praised the store’s fresh produce distribution plan, saying the program has been going “extremely well” since the launch. Owen hopes to expand the program nationally and sell produce at 5,000 Dollar General locations by the end of the year.
