Dollar General's takeover of America is nearly complete, proving messy stores can win with discounts

• Dollar General opened its first store in Montana on Saturday.
• The location means that Dollar General now has a presence in all 48 contiguous US states.

You can now find a Dollar General store in every one of the 48 contiguous states.

The discount retailer opened a store in Columbia Falls, Montana, on Saturday, the company said. It also has three other stores under construction in Montana that it plans to open later this fall.

"With the addition of the Columbia Falls store in Montana, DG now serves all 48 continental U.S. states," a press release announcing the milestone reads.

Dollar General has about 19,000 stores in the US, according to the company. Many are in small towns that don't have other retailers like grocery stores or big box retailers.

The retailer is growing fast despite cutting the number of new stores it plans to open this year. Dollar General said in June that it will open 990 new locations in 2023, down from its previous goal of 1,050.

But current and former employees have told Insider that working conditions inside many Dollar General stores are chaotic and even dangerous.

Many Dollar General stores are cluttered with merchandise — so much so that local fire marshals have ordered some stores to close, saying that boxes and carts are blocking aisles and making it hard to evacuate in case of fire.

Employees have told Insider that Dollar General does not schedule enough employee hours to unpack merchandise and maintain the stores.

At other locations, rats chew into bags of pet food and defecate on the floor, creating a health hazard.

In August, executives said that Dollar General would spend extra money on labor and deploy what it calls "smart teams" to clean up its messy stores.

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