Dollar General building new store in underserved Whitesville area off I-185

Residents living in the Whitesville area, off Interstate-185, will soon have a store nearby to shop for household goods.

Dollar General is building a store off exit 30, across from the Shell gas station and Summit Grill on Hopewell Church Road.

The store, which replaces a barn that recently stood on the property, will be the closest thing to a grocery store for several miles.

Tony Cooper, a resident living in the nearby Piedmont subdivision, said it will serve residents who now have to drive all the way to places like downtown Pine Mountain, Westville, LaGrange or Columbus for groceries.

“There are a lot of residents up in this area that do not have a store they can go to make purchases, so I think the Dollar General is going to be an asset to this neighborhood,” Cooper said. “The people I talk to are really excited about it because (Dollar General) carries a lot more day-to-day things. You can run to the store and get a loaf of bread and just odds-and-ends kinds of stuff that you don’t want to have to drive all the way to the grocery store to get.”

Crystal Ghassemi, a Dollar General spokeswoman, said the location was chosen because of the need for convenient shopping.

“When choosing store locations, meeting customers’ needs is Dollar General’s top priority,” she wrote in an email to the Ledger-Enquirer. “The company looks for places where we can offer customers an easy and convenient shopping choice. We know convenience is a major factor in our customers' shopping decisions as we generally serve customers within a three to five mile radius, or 10 minute drive. We also take demographic trends, competitive factors, traffic patterns and community concerns into consideration.”

Construction began in late November, and the company plans to open in late spring, according to information provided by Ghassemi. The store will employ approximately 6-10 employees, depending on the need at that particular location.

Dollar General sells name-brand and private label merchandise such as health and beauty products, home cleaning supplies, housewares, stationery, seasonal items and basic clothing, according to the email. There also will be an assortment of packaged foods, as well as some refrigerated and frozen foods.

Ghassemi said anyone interested in working at the new Dollar General can apply for available positions at www.dollargeneral.com/careers.

This story was originally published January 6, 2017 at 10:40 AM with the headline "Dollar General building new store in underserved Whitesville area off I-185."