Dollar General and Dollar Tree shopping compared: photos

Dollar stores are on the rise. Some chains, it seems, are doing better than others.

Dollar General is doing particularly well. The company plans to open 975 new stores and remodel 1,000 existing stores. Its net sales increased by 8.4% in the second quarter.

Dollar Tree is practically neck-and-neck with Dollar General in terms of store count and annual sales. The company acquired Family Dollar in 2015, following a bidding war with Dollar General. Its net sales also increased in the second quarter— by 3.9%.

Read more: We visited nearly 40 stores in 3 months, and the messiest of the bunch is also one of the most successful right now

Though almost every item in Dollar Tree stores goes for $1, the company is testing adding more expensive merchandise to some stores to boost sales with its Dollar Tree Plus! initiative.

We visited both stores to see which was better. Dollar Tree was an overall cheaper experience, from the actual prices to the quality of shopping. The store was a disaster to navigate and featured dozens of boxes lining almost every aisle.

Dollar General was a welcome reprieve from the mayhem of Dollar Tree. And though not all of the items there went for $1, Dollar General was the better store by a longshot.

Here’s what we saw:

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