LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The nation's largest “small box” retailer has its sights set on opening two new stores on Lake County's Northshore.
Dollar General Corp., based in Goodlettsville, Tenn., is planning the stores in Clearlake Oaks and Nice,
company spokeswoman Jaclyn Dees confirmed to Lake County News.
Cross Development of Carrolton, Texas, has submitted the use permit applications for the two projects to the Lake County Community Development Department, according to county documents.
The projects will go before the Lake County Planning Commission next Thursday, May 8.
The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in the Board of Supervisors chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
At that meeting, the commission will consider approving mitigated negative declarations due to the projects not having significant environmental effects.
Michalyn DelValle, a planner with the Lake County Community Development Department, said both stores' plans call for square footage of larger than 9,100 but smaller than 10,000 square feet.
In Nice, the new store is proposed to be built on a 1.1-acre property at 3539 and 3577 E. State Highway 20, the location of the current Nice Frostie, DelValle said.
In Clearlake Oaks, the new store location will be 13090 E. State Highway 20, a currently undeveloped 4.7-acre property located next to Schindler Creek, she said.
The properties where the Nice store is to be located are owned by Judy Swenson Thompson, who has a Nice address, while Richard and Mary Kuehn of Clearlake Oaks are listed as trustees of the Clearlake Oaks property, according to the staff reports for the May 8 Planning Commission meeting.
DelValle said the building plans for both store projects already are in plan check and environmental studies have been performed. That means that, once the full permit conditions are fulfilled, the projects can move forward fairly quickly and construction can start.
In the case of the Clearlake Oaks store project, located next to Schindler Creek, the main environmental requirement is that the construction must maintain 20-foot setbacks from the top of the creek bank, DelValle said.
Dollar General Corp. reported that it has more than 11,000 stores in 40 states, more than 100,000 employees and had $17.5 billion in sales in fiscal year 2013. It's now actively expanding into California.
“We just entered the California market back in 2012,” Dees said.
Dees said various factors go into selecting new store locations, including demographic trends, competitive factors and traffic patterns.
However, the No. 1 factor is convenience for shoppers, said Dees, noting that they look to be located within a three- to five-mile radius or a 10-mile drive from customer populations.
Dollar General plans to open 700 new stores in 2014, many of which will be in California, Dees said.
As for the merchandise Dollar General offers, “We like to say we're a one-stop shop,” said Dees, explaining that the stores offer everything from food to health and beauty products, décor and more at competitive prices.
The company also has its own private brand that is comparable to the name brands it offers – Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, Unilever, Kellogg’s, General Mills, Nabisco, Hanes, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola – with a 100-percent satisfaction guarantee, Dees said.
She could not give specific dates for when the Clearlake Oaks and Nice stores are expected to open.
Both stores remain in the due diligence process, with the Clearlake Oaks project's due diligence set to be completed in August and the Nice project's in September, Dees said.
Dees said more details about the stores – including their specifics sizes and the numbers of employees each will have – will be available closer to the completion of the projects.
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