Napavine Dollar General Under Construction

Construction on a Dollar General store on Napavine’s Birch Avenue is in progress, with the grand opening estimated to take place this summer. 

Dollar General is a chain of convenience stores that sells a variety of products such as food, health and beauty products, home cleaning supplies, housewares, stationery, seasonal items and basic clothing. All items do not cost a dollar, like the similarly named store Dollar Tree, but the company claims to have low and affordable prices. Dollar General was established in 1939 and has about 15,000 locations in 44 states, according to the Dollar General website. 

Dollar General recently started construction on a location in Centralia that is estimated to open this spring. The company is currently considering adding a location in Oakville. 

“We are still in a due diligence phase for a store location in Oakville, Washington. This means we are considering adding a location in this area, but are not committed to doing so, just yet. We anticipate having a final decision on this location in early March,” said Mary Kathryn Colbert, of Dollar General’s public relations department. 

Colbert said that the Napavine store will be approximately 9,000 square feet with a sales floor of about 7,200 square feet. According to Colbert groundwork on the Dollar General began in mid-December and the store will eventually employ 6 to 10 people, depending on the needs of the store. 

Mayor of Napavine, Shawn O’Neill, said that he is happy to see new businesses moving into the area.

“I think it will just keep money that would otherwise go to Walmart in Chehalis in Napavine. I think people are excited to see businesses come into Napavine and point money in the direction of our school and toward things like infrastructure and public safety,” said O’Neill.

O’Neill said that he hasn’t been contacted by any businesses or citizens that have any apprehensions toward Dollar General moving into the area and said he feels the the store is in a great location. 

“I think (Dollar General) may give the baseball concession stands a run for their money with candy bars and pop,” O’Neill joked.

The City of Napavine has looked at studies that calculated the amount of traffic on Birch Avenue SW, where city hall and soon-to-be Dollar General are located and O’Neill said he was surprised by the amount of cars that travel the road.

“It’s in town and it’s accessible to both people from Napavine and to people heading home towards Winlock in the evenings,” said O’Neill.

Colbert said that Dollar General sells trusted brands such as Clorox, Procter & Gamble, General Mills, Kimberly-Clark, Kellogg’s, Nabisco, Unilever, Hanes, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola.