Dollar General Corporation  stock certificate 1995

Great retail stock with nice engraving of a town square with a Dollar Gneral.  Interesting yellow accent in the vignette. Cal Turner Jr printed signature as president.  Issued and cancelled. Dated 1995.

Dollar General Corporation is a United States chain of variety stores headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. As of January 2015, Dollar General operated over 11,500 stores in 40 U.S. states. The company acquired the 280 stores of the P.N. Hirsh Division of Interco, Inc. (now Heritage Home Group) in 1983, and in 1985 added 206 stores and a warehouse from Eagle Family Discount Stores, also from Interco, Inc. In recent years, the chain has started constructing more stand-alone stores, typically in areas not served by another general-merchandise retailer. In some cases, stores are within a few city blocks of each other.

Dollar General offers both name brand and generic merchandise — including off-brand goods and closeouts of name-brand items — in the same store, often on the same shelf. Although it has the word "dollar" in the name, Dollar General is not a dollar store. Most of its products are priced at more than $1.00. However, goods are usually sold at set price points the range of .50 to 60 dollars, not counting phone cards and gift cards.

Dollar General often serves communities that are too small for Walmart stores. It competes in the dollar store format with national chains Family Dollar and Dollar Tree, regional chains such as Fred's in the southeast, and numerous independently owned stores. Since 2000, Dollar General has experimented with stores that carry a greater selection of grocery items. These stores, (similar to the Walmart Supercenter, but much smaller), operate under the name "Dollar General Market".

The stores were founded in 1939 by Cal Turner Sr. and his father J.L. Turner in Scottsville, Kentucky as J.L. Turner & Son, Inc. Their descendant Cal Turner Jr. later worked as CEO of the firm for 25 years.[6] In 1968, the business changed its name to Dollar General Corporation. In 2007, the company was acquired by the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), which took the company public in 2009.[7]

The first Dollar General store opened in Springfield, Kentucky, on June 1, 1955, the concept was that no item in the store would cost more than one dollar. The idea became a success, and other stores owned by J.L. Turner and his son Cal Turner were quickly converted. By 1957, annual sales of Dollar General’s 29 stores were $5 million. After two unsuccessful attempts at retailing, J.L. became a traveling dry goods salesman for a Nashville wholesale grocer. J.L. left the sales job after 10 years and settled his family in Scottsville, Kentucky. During the Depression, he began buying and liquidating bankrupt general stores. J.L.’s only child, Cal Turner, Sr., accompanied his father to these closeouts at a young age, gaining valuable business knowledge and skills.

In October 1939, J.L. and Cal opened J.L. Turner and Son Wholesale with an initial investment of $5,000 each. Wholesaling quickly gave way to retailing – J.L.’s third and final attempt at retailing. The switch to retailing resulted in annual sales above $2 million by the early 1950s.  J.L. died in 1964. Four years later, the company he co-founded went public as Dollar General Corporation, posting annual sales of more than $40 million and net income in excess of $1.5 million. In 1977, Cal Turner, Jr., who joined the company in 1965 as the third generation Turner, succeeded his father as president of Dollar General. Cal Jr. led the company until his retirement in 2002. Under his leadership, the company grew to more than 6,000 stores and $6 billion in sales. Effective June 3rd, 2015, Chief Operating Officer Todd Vasos replaced Rick Dreiling as chief executive. Dreiling will remain senior advisor and chairman until his retirement in January 2016.