So just a few days ago, we heard word about the Missouri Attorney General taking aim at discount retail giant Dollar General (DG) over issues of pricing in stores. Prices marked on shelves, reports noted, were not the same prices paid at the counter. Apparently, Missouri was not the only place these discrepancies cropped up, as Colorado just hit Dollar General with a six-figure fine for the same thing. Investors, though, seemed largely unconcerned. Dollar General shares were up modestly in Friday morning’s trading.
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Dollar General was assessed a $400,000 fine following investigations by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and the Colorado Department of Agriculture. The two agencies conducted 23 separate inspections of various Dollar General outlets between April 2023 and February 2025, reports noted. Ultimately, Dollar General failed 15 of these inspections, charging more at the checkout than the price presented on store shelves.
Dollar General denied that it had violated the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, but agreed to the fine regardless, based on word out of the Attorney General’s office. Dollar General also agreed to post notices in the stores, declaring it would always honor the lower price, as well as run its own internal audits and improve its staff training.
Employee-Free Shopping Expands
Meanwhile, the Dollar General pilot program of “frictionless shopping” appears to be expanding. We heard about this one just two days ago, with word of an employee-free Dollar General in Texas. Now, new reports say a similar store has gone into play in Banner Elk, North Carolina.
Dollar General is keeping quiet about this, reports note, but word is that it turned to AiFi for the “employee-free technology.” A previous earnings call revealed that Dollar General was planning to launch pilot programs in “a few stores,” but did not plan to expand it immediately. They are likely waiting to see just how well the plan works overall before figuring out if the plan can be used in more locations.
Is Dollar General Stock a Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on DG stock based on eight Buys and 13 Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 28.88% rally in its share price over the past year, the average DG price target of $123.65 per share implies 17.9% upside from current levels.
