HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-05-2021_Open Session_Item 6_Dollar General_Redacted 100 Mission Ridge
Goodlettsville, Tennessee 37072
May 4, 2021
The Honorable John Valdivia
Mayor
City of San Bernardino
290 North D Street, Third Floor
San Bernardino, California 92401
Dear Mayor Valdivia,
We hope this letter finds you well. As a leader of the San Bernardino community, we understand, respect and
appreciate that you are committed to serving your community. At Dollar General, we share in your desire to
serve your community as a foundation of service is rooted in our business operations and culture through our
mission of Serving Others.
As we complete a due diligence phase for a proposed store at 3191 North E Street in San Bernardino in
partnership with our developer partners at NNN Retail Development, we are grateful for the opportunity to
provide you with additional information about our Company. We strive to be a positive business partner and
good community neighbor, and we believe the addition of this new store would provide numerous economic
benefits, among which include the creation of new jobs, generation of additional tax revenue for the City and
the affordable accessibility to household essentials.
At Dollar General, we are a general merchandise store with a small retail footprint that provides significant value
on the essential items that American households use and replenish most often. We play an important role for
customers who are looking for a convenient option, and the critical role our stores play for families became
more evident than ever during the recent (and ongoing) pandemic. During this time of national crisis, our
customers have relied on Dollar General to remain open and to provide them with the items they need at
affordable prices in a smaller, less crowded and easy in-and-out environment. We and our employees take this
responsibility of service very seriously, and we are proud to have remained open for our customers during these
uncertain times. Our efforts were recognized by Forbes magazine, which identified Dollar General among its top
25 corporate responders to the COVID-19 pandemic, and are reflected in a Harris Poll that outlines the essential
role Dollar General stores in the lives of our customers.
Through our mission of Serving Others, we are committed to the communities we proudly call home and strive
to be a good neighbor, as evidenced by our unwavering support of literacy and education initiatives through the
Dollar General Literacy Foundation (DGLF). In the past five years, funds from the DGLF have positively impacted
nearly 6,000 San Bernardino County residents improve their lives through literacy and education, and the
addition of a San Bernardino store opens the opportunity for schools, nonprofit organizations and libraries
within a 15-mile radius of the store to apply for Dollar General Literacy Foundation grants.
100 Mission Ridge
Goodlettsville, Tennessee 37072
Page Two
Today, we proudly employ more than 3,900 individuals through our current store and distribution center
presence in California, and we look forward to the opportunity to provide new career growth opportunities to
local residents with the addition of this new store. Employees at the store would have access to award-winning
and world-class training and development opportunities, as well as a pathway to advance their career in our
organization, which is evidenced by the fact that approximately 75% of current store managers were promoted
from within our organization. We also offer employees with competitive wages and benefits, numerous
development opportunities including tuition reimbursement and education discounts, telemedicine health
coverage eligibility on their first day, parental leave, adoption assistance and much more.
In closing, we appreciate the opportunity to highlight our stance as a strong business partner and good neighbor
and for your thoughtful consideration of our proposed San Bernardino location. Our hope is to make the
relationship between the City and Dollar General a mutually beneficial one, and we hope you and your
colleagues will take into consideration the numerous, positive economic benefits our stores bring to your
community.
Sincerely,
Steve Brophy
Vice President, Government Affairs
Dollar General Corporation
Crystal Luce, APR
Senior Director, Public Relations
Dollar General Corporation
CC:
San Bernardino City Council Members:
- The Honorable Theodore Sanchez, First Ward
- The Honorable Sandra Ibarra, Mayor Pro Tem and Second Ward
- The Honorable Juan Figueroa, Third Ward
- The Honorable Fred Shorett, Fourth Ward
- The Honorable Ben Reynoso, Fifth Ward
- The Honorable Kimberly Calvin, Sixth Ward
- The Honorable Damon L. Alexander, Seventh Ward
Randy Wilson, Dollar General’s Real Estate Manager
David Church, NNN Retail Development