Dollar General to open this week in Miller Place, replacing former Rite Aid

A new Dollar General store is set to open sometime this week at the Miller Place Square shopping center, according to the national retailer.

The retailer will be opening the store at 335 Rte. 25A in Miller Place at the site of a former Rite Aid. The former Rite Aid closed its doors at the end of 2023 following the pharmacy chain’s first bankruptcy filing.

Officials with Dollar General said in an emailed statement that the retailer “is excited to open its new location … within the week to Suffolk County customers.” The company said it did not yet have a specific opening date, but said the store “plans to officially celebrate with a grand opening community event in the coming weeks.”

The store, which sits adjacent a Marshall’s and across the parking lot from an Applebee’s restaurant, will employ between 6-10 employees, depending on the needs of the location, the company added. The Dollar General will be located one shopping plaza over from an existing Dollar Tree.

Officials with Rite Aid did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

Goodlettsville, Tennessee-based Dollar General has been growing and expanding its number of stores for over a decade, said Morningstar retail analyst Dan Su.

The company ended fiscal year 2024 with more than 20,000 stores across the country, about double the number of locations Dollar General had 10 years ago, Su said. During that time, the chain has seen its sales grow by an average of 8% a year.

The company reported net sales of $40.6 billion for full-year 2024, an increase of 5% over the previous year. Dollar General has eight open locations on Long Island, all of them in Suffolk County, the company confirmed.

Its growth can be attributed in large part to the retailer’s lower price point, its mix of staple, name brand items and discretionary products, and its focus on more rural communities, leading to less competition for the chain, Su said.

“It’s a value proposition that really resonates with lower income consumers,” Su said. “That’s been especially successful given the current environment where even higher income consumers are feeling the pinch.”

But Su said it is somewhat an exception that Dollar General would be opening a new location in a suburban market like Long Island’s given its population density and higher level of incomes.

“The retailer has been talking about getting higher income consumers in their stores,” she said.

Rite Aid stores on the Island have continued to close shop since the retail chain filed for bankruptcy two months ago.

In early May, the Philadelphia-based chain announced its second bankruptcy in two years, and that the company is in the process of selling off its assets, including its stores.

As of early last month, the chain had under 20 locations left on Long Island, according to the company's online store locator. Employees at several remaining locations on the Island expected that their stores would close by late July.