Inventory Turnover › Dollar General
Dollar General Inventory Turnover: Multi-Year 10-K History
Dollar General Corporation (DG) turned its inventory 4.5x in fiscal 2025 (year ended January 30, 2026), its highest in four years. Despite a mix that is 82% consumables, its small-format, rural network turns far slower than a supermarket. All figures below are from the company 10-K filings on SEC EDGAR.
Quick answer: Dollar General's fiscal 2025 and 2024 10-K inventory turnover ratio
Fiscal 2025 (10-K)
4.5x for the year ended January 30, 2026. $29.63B cost of goods sold over roughly $6.52B average inventory ($6.71B opening, $6.33B closing). 4.7x on a closing-inventory basis.
Fiscal 2024 (10-K)
4.2x for the year ended January 31, 2025. $28.60B cost of goods sold over roughly $6.85B average inventory.
Turnover = cost of goods sold / average inventory (mean of opening and closing balance-sheet inventory). Figures taken from Dollar General's 10-K filings on SEC EDGAR (CIK 0000029534), verified August 2026. Cost of goods sold and inventory are both on the retail LIFO basis.
FY2022 - FY2025 turnover history
| Fiscal Year | Cost of goods sold | Inv (start) | Inv (end) | Turnover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2022 (ended Feb 2023) | $26.03B | $5.61B | $6.76B | 4.2x |
| FY2023 (ended Feb 2024) | $26.97B | $6.76B | $6.99B | 3.9x |
| FY2024 (ended Jan 2025) | $28.60B | $6.99B | $6.71B | 4.2x |
| FY2025 (ended Jan 2026) | $29.63B | $6.71B | $6.33B | 4.5x |
FY2022 (ended Feb 2023): A post-pandemic inventory build lifted stock 20% to $6.76B while cost of goods sold grew more slowly, pulling turnover down to 4.2x as the chain worked through overstock.
FY2023 (ended Feb 2024): Inventory peaked near $6.99B against soft consumables demand and margin pressure, marking the low point of the cycle at 3.9x on an average-inventory basis.
FY2024 (ended Jan 2025): A deliberate inventory reduction to $6.71B, alongside shrink and SKU-rationalisation programmes, began restoring turnover to 4.2x.
FY2025 (ended Jan 2026): Further inventory discipline drew stock down to $6.33B while cost of goods sold rose, lifting turnover to a multi-year high of 4.5x (4.7x on a closing-inventory basis).
Source: Dollar General Corporation 10-K filings, fiscal years 2022-2025 (CIK 0000029534). Cost of goods sold was $26.03B (FY2022), $26.97B (FY2023), $28.60B (FY2024) and $29.63B (FY2025); merchandise inventories were $5.61B, $6.76B, $6.99B, $6.71B and $6.33B at each fiscal year-end from January 2022 through January 2026. Turnover = cost of goods sold divided by average inventory (opening plus closing divided by 2). Dollar General filings index.
Why Dollar General's turnover reads the way it does
1. Small-box format spreads the assortment thin
A Dollar General store averages about 7,500 selling square feet against a supermarket's 40,000-plus. It still stocks a broad everyday assortment across consumables, seasonal, home and apparel, so each SKU sells at a low velocity. Turnover is sales speed per unit of stock held; a wide shallow assortment in a small box turns slower than a deep fast-moving grocery aisle, whatever the category mix.
2. A rural network requires deeper safety stock
Roughly 80% of the 20,900-store fleet sits in towns of 20,000 or fewer people far from a distribution centre, on less-frequent replenishment cycles than an urban supermarket. To avoid stockouts between deliveries, each store carries more buffer stock than its floor area would suggest, holding the inventory denominator up and the turnover ratio down. The trade-off is deliberate: availability in underserved markets over raw turns.
3. Retail LIFO shapes the reported figure
Dollar General values inventory on the retail LIFO method under RIM. In an inflationary stretch LIFO pushes newer, higher costs into cost of goods sold and leaves older, lower costs on the balance sheet, so both numerator and denominator move in ways a FIFO retailer's would not. The 4.2x-to-4.5x range here is a like-for-like read year over year, but comparisons with FIFO peers such as Best Buy are approximate rather than exact.
Dollar General vs the discount field
On the latest 10-Ks the broad-line discounters clear Dollar General comfortably on turnover: Walmart 9.2x and Target 6.0x, with warehouse-club Costco at 13.0x. That gap is about format and volume, not merchandising skill. A supercentre or club moves enormous volume through a single large location and through each SKU, so it recovers its inventory investment several times faster than a 7,500-square-foot dollar store deliberately stocked deep for a rural catchment.
The practical takeaway: benchmark a small-format value retailer against other small-box dollar and discount operators, not against a supercentre. If your small-format turnover is below about 3.5x you are likely carrying too much slow-moving or overstocked inventory; Dollar General's 4.5x is a well-run figure for the format, earned through active shrink control and SKU rationalisation over the last two fiscal years.
Frequently asked questions
What is Dollar General's inventory turnover ratio in fiscal 2025?
Dollar General turned its inventory 4.5x in fiscal 2025, the year ended January 30, 2026. That is $29.63B of cost of goods sold divided by roughly $6.52B average inventory (the mean of the $6.71B opening and $6.33B closing balances) from its 10-K. On a simpler closing-inventory basis the ratio is 4.7x. Either reading places Dollar General in the low-to-mid single digits, well below a supermarket despite its heavily consumable mix.
How is Dollar General's inventory turnover calculated from the 10-K?
Divide cost of goods sold by average inventory, where average inventory is the mean of the opening and closing merchandise-inventory balances on the consolidated balance sheet. Both figures come from Dollar General's 10-K on SEC EDGAR (CIK 0000029534). Cost of goods sold was $29.63B in fiscal 2025; inventory was $6.71B at the start of the year and $6.33B at the end, giving roughly $6.52B average and a 4.5x ratio.
Why does Dollar General turn inventory slower than a grocery store?
Consumables were 82% of Dollar General's net sales in fiscal 2025, yet it turns only about 4.5x while supermarkets run 12x to 16x. The difference is format and network, not category. Dollar General operates more than 20,000 small-box stores (20,893 at fiscal 2025 year-end), most rural and far from distribution centres, so each store carries deep everyday safety stock to avoid stockouts between less-frequent deliveries. Small stores spread a broad assortment thinly, so sales velocity per SKU is low. A supermarket concentrates high daily volume on fresh and perishable lines that must cycle within days; Dollar General's shelf-stable staples can sit far longer without spoiling.
Does Dollar General use LIFO or FIFO?
Dollar General states inventories at the lower of cost or market using the retail last-in, first-out (LIFO) method under the retail inventory method (RIM). Because both cost of goods sold and the inventory balance are on the same LIFO basis, the turnover ratio is internally consistent. Note that its LIFO basis is not directly comparable with a FIFO retailer's turnover; in an inflationary period LIFO raises reported cost of goods sold and lowers carried inventory, which can nudge the ratio up relative to an otherwise identical FIFO operator.
How does Dollar General's turnover compare with other discount retailers?
On the latest 10-Ks the broad-line discounters run well ahead of Dollar General on turnover: Walmart 9.2x and Target 6.0x, with warehouse-club Costco at 13.0x. Dollar General's 4.5x reflects its small-format, rural, deep-stock model rather than weak execution; big-box discounters move far more volume through each location and each SKU. Read Dollar General against other small-box dollar and discount formats, not against a supercentre or club.
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