Competitive Watch: Dollar General Selling Beer and Wine

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Dollar General Corp. began selling beer and wine in some of its stores in the Southeast, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Dollar General spokeswoman Tawn Earnest said the company expects to eventually offer beer or wine in half of its stores, but declined to say where the stores already selling alcohol are located, the report stated.

"The company is exploring opportunities in locations where there is a customer demand," Earnest said in a release on Wednesday.

Consumable sales account for almost 70 percent of Dollar General's total revenue, compared to other discount chains where consumables account for about half of total revenue, Zoe Tan, a Morningstar analyst who follows Dollar General and other discount retailers said in the AP report.

"This (beer and wine) is generally in line with what they've been doing the past year," Tan said in the report. "They've been adding quite a bit of consumables. I think this is another way to help drive store traffic. This seems like a natural step to providing a different option to consumers in the store."

Additionally, Dollar General has said it plans to open approximately 600 new stores and to remodel or relocate a total of nearly 500 stores in 2010.