Dollar General Says It’s Close on Price. Alabamians Can Weigh That Against Walmart

You pick up a few things at Dollar General. Then you wonder if Walmart would have cost less.

Dollar General says its prices are close to those of big retailers.

That’s the company talking, though, not a price test.

Here’s what it said, who it compared itself to, and how Alabamians can check it.

The Claim From the Call

On August 27, Dollar General held an earnings call. That’s when company leaders talk to investors about how business is going.

On the call, the company said its everyday prices sit within 3 to 4 percentage points of mass retailers.

That’s from a Motley Fool transcript. Mass retailers are big stores that sell a little of everything.

Leaders also told analysts that its price position is as good as it’s been against every class of retailer.

Analysts are people who study the company for investors.

That’s from an Investing.com transcript.

Leaders said price matters most to their shoppers.

Notice what this claim is.

It’s a gap between Dollar General and a group of stores. It’s not the price of anything in your cart.

A range like that gives you something to weigh. But one shelf tag can’t confirm it.

Which Competitors the Claim Covers

Neither transcript names Walmart.

The call compared Dollar General to mass retailers as a group.

The company’s annual report for the year that ended January 30, 2026, does name Walmart.

It lists Walmart, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree as its main direct competitors.

The same report also lists mass merchandise stores. They sit next to convenience, drug, grocery and warehouse club stores.

That’s a wide group.

So “mass retailers” doesn’t have to mean the Walmart near you.

In September 2022, Grocery Dive reported that Dollar General’s chief executive called Walmart the price leader.

He said the rest of retail follows it. That’s more than four years old, so treat it as background.

What the Annual Report Says

The annual report talks about prices in a different way than the call did.

The report talks about everyday low prices.

It says the company’s research shows a price edge over most food and drug stores.

It adds that its prices hold up even against the largest discount stores.

Neither claim names a store.

So one company made three claims. Each one is about a different group.

The groups are food and drug stores, the largest discount stores, and mass retailers.

You get to decide which group the Walmart near you fits in.

The $1 Shelf

Its price pitch leans on Value Valley.

Leaders said on the call that this section now has more than 600 rotating items priced at $1.

An executive said that compares to about 500.

In prepared remarks, leaders cited more than 2,000 items across the store at or below $1.

In the first quarter, Dollar General added a full freezer door of new $1 items.

That’s according to Grocery Dive from June 2026.

The company also said its count of $1 items will be up 40% in the second half of its fiscal year.

That’s a bigger dollar shelf.

But a dollar price tag tells you what you’ll pay, not how much you’re getting.

So if you’re weighing a Value Valley item against Walmart, compare the package size before the price.

One Basket in Dallas

Here's a real price test.

In February 2023, Bank of America analysts priced 33 items in Dallas.

The basket cost $187.50 at Walmart and $201.14 at Dollar General.

That's $13.64 more at Dollar General, or about 7% of the Walmart total.

Put another way, it's about $7 more for every $100 you'd spend at Walmart.

The analysts said the gap may reflect Dollar General's reliance on shelf-stable foods like canned vegetables and pasta.

Those had risen faster in price than produce.

The test is more than three years old. It covers one city in one month.

It also measured a basket total. That doesn't match the percentage-point gap Dollar General talks about today.

You can often use it as a starting point.

Then you can price the same basket at both stores and see for yourself.

Walmart's Price Claim

Dollar General isn't the only one making a price claim. Walmart's leaders made one on August 20, 2026.

On that earnings call, Walmart's chief executive said the company's price gaps to conventional grocers in the U.S. are strong and continue to widen.

That's from a transcript of the call.

Walmart U.S. also delivered more than 11,000 rollbacks, or price cuts, during the quarter.

That's up from 7,200 at the end of the first quarter, per the same transcript.

Grocery Dive describes the cuts as temporary.

The comparison groups differ.

Walmart measures itself against conventional grocers. Dollar General measures itself against mass retailers.

So you can't line the two claims up as if they covered the same stores.

Both are statements by leaders on earnings calls. Neither is an independent price test.

If you shop both stores, a receipt from each will tell you more than either call.

Footprints and Filings

Dollar General's annual report counts 20,959 stores. They are in 48 states and Mexico, as of February 27, 2026.

Walmart's annual report for the year that ended January 31, 2026, says Walmart U.S. has 4,611 stores.

That's more than four Dollar General stores for every Walmart U.S. store.

Dollar General says about 80% of its stores are in towns of 20,000 or fewer people.

It also says about 75% of the U.S. population lives within five miles of one of its stores.

Distance matters.

If the nearest Walmart is a long drive from you, a Dollar General within five miles makes for a different comparison.

Walmart's report also names dollar stores as rivals.