In 2024, Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Five Below “continued to expand their real estate footprints, contributing to the chains’ year-over-year visit growth, according to research firm Placer.ai.
“Since the start of [the second half of] 2024, all three chains saw consistent monthly visit increases compared to the previous year, contributing to overall year-over-year traffic increases of 5.1%, 5.2% and 12.8% for Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Five Below, respectively. And the visit growth has continued in 2025,” reported the firm.
Since Q1 2023, Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Five Below’s average visits per visitor have steadily increased compared to the previous year, according to the data. In other words, the chains’ customers are visiting more frequently than they did in the past, said Placer.ai.
The data also found that the daily visit rate “reveals that consumers may be turning to these retailers for more daily essentials.”
In 2024, Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Five Below’s shares of weekday visits (Monday-Thursday) increased compared to 2023. Five Below saw the largest boost in weekday visits of the three chains (from 45.1% in 2023 to 46.4% in 2024). Placer.ai said this “could be evidence of growing demand in the retailer’s consumable categories like snacks, health and beauty—essential products that consumers might need to replenish mid-week.”
In part to meet the demand for everyday essentials, Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Five Below “have expanded product assortments—perhaps positioning themselves for continued weekday visit growth.”
Family Dollar, which was not included in Placer.ai’s research, struggled in 2024. NACS Daily reported in June that Family Dollar was “exploring the sale of the business,” per Reuters.
“The retailer, like its peer Dollar General, has been grappling with weak discretionary demand as shoppers focus more on less-profitable consumables. It is facing stiff competition from rivals Walmart, Target and Chinese e-commerce platform Temu, which are also offering lower-priced products to attract budget-stretched Americans,” wrote Reuters.
Want to know how c-stores performed in 2024 versus retail competitors like the dollar channel? Join your peers at the 2025 NACS State of the Industry Summit in Dallas April 8-10. The hotel reservation deadline is March 21 to receive the NACS group rate.