The Dollar General Store of Grantsville has been in an on again, off again state of closure for over a year with employees living day to day without another minute of job security. Negotiations with building owner Jim Robinson of Salem, West Virginia for renovations were attempted but seemingly never seriously considered by Mr. Robinson.
As Ridgeview News passed by the building on Tuesday evening I spoke with one of the gentlemen removing merchandise from the building, asking him if he was hired to remove the merchandise for closure or remodel? He quickly said “remodel.” However, a later conversation with a member of the local Dollar General Store staff informed me that “Dollar General offered to make most of the repairs to the building with the owner only being responsible for minimal repairs. And the owner is not wanting to do anything at all. So Dollar General made the call to close for the safety of their customers and employees. It is very sad. I was told if he would have posted it for sale with us in there, investors would have bought the building.”
I attempted to call the Dollar General Corporation headquarters for comment, but they will not answer nor return calls.
The Dollar General Store has been a staple in a community where both the young and old struggle to make the ends meet each month on limited incomes. It is hard to imagine that those at the corporate level who are *said to make a million dollar profit from the Grantsville location wouldn’t have done more to insure the closure didn’t happen.
*As reported by former staff.
Probably the greater issue regarding this matter is the fact that local staff was never kept informed of what was happening from the corporate office. The local staff, who did their very best to maintain a safe store in unsafe conditions, and took care of their many elderly customers, were treated very poorly by the Dollar General Corporation. Any news regarding the closure was generally received by Grantsville’s staff through a trickle down effect from other stores who were closer to higher management.
As Grantsville sits on edge of an economic burst of energy, it is the hope of the community that someone will see and supply a location suitable for the store to reopen.
https://youtu.be/uE5THiD-kTk?si=mxDUqtAY1tvksryT
I hope everyone will watch the link above regarding Dollar General and the scam company it is. No one in the county should have to “need” Dollar General. There are other options than greedy, corporate companies that do not have your best interest in mind.
Bloated government demanding punitive taxation and excessive regulation of the market economy have impoverished the community, Dollar General had very little to do with that effort over the last 60 years.