Contractors are on site at a Fish Pond Road Washington Township property for the constructions start of a new 10,640 sq ft Dollar General store.
This project was approved two years ago by Washington Township Zoning Board, but it appears that just very recently they received all of their final related approvals, closed on the purchase of the property, and are now starting development.
I stopped at the site three days ago to see that lot clearing in the rear was under way and the building itself was mostly gutted on the inside… likely ahead of the demolition of the building.
As part of the approval process, the original five acre lot was split into two parcels. A home which sits at the corner of Fish Pond Rd. and Pittman Downer Roads is now in one lot (the home will remain), and the portion of the property where the former white commercial building sits is now a second lot, and that is where the Dollar General will be developed.
The new Dollar General will be devloped next to the Newfield National Bank building.
This would be the fourth commercial retail building situated in a row along Fish Pond Road. The road frontage land for these commercial buildings decades ago was allocated as a commercial buffer for the Peppertree Farms housing development which sits behind the retail buildings.
I do not have a site plan at this time but it appears the developer of this Dollar General is the same one who developed the new Dollar General on Delsea Drive near the Five-Points intersection, so we could expect a similar configuration.
42Freeway first wrote about plans for this Fish Pond Road Dollar General back in October, 2021.. ahead of the Zoning Board meeting.
Dollar General Fish Pond Road
The address for the property is listed as 279 Fish Pond Rd… But with the splitting of the lot I’m not sure if the number of the address will change.
Washington Township Zoning approved this project back on November 8th, 2021. Zoning approval was required because they were first splitting the lot, and then secondly both the home and retail store were non permitted uses within the zone.
A month later a Zoning Board of resolution was completed.
In 2022 an agreement with the Washington Township MUA over the development of water and sewer connections was completed.
So it has then been two years since that first Zoning approval, and over that time I have gotten questions from area residents regarding the status of the project.
While I do not know the full details on the two year delay, I can see from Gloucester County documents that the developer presented their site plans to the County’s Land Development Review Board 8 different times. Just one month ago on October 10th, the project was approved by the county.
To clarify, the county approvals are not about “can the project be developed”. Those approval come from the Town’s Zoning and Planning Boards.
The county’s approval in these types of projects is simply focused on how a new development will access a County roadway, to ensure that traffic flow (and the amount of traffic) are properly handled with the project’s design.
Likely coinciding with that final approval, on September 29th of this year the developer closed on the purchase of the property.
Now here were are just weeks from the final approval and property sale, and the developer is already on site to begin the development of the new Dollar General.
Dollar General – Continued Growth
Dollar General is a general merchandise retail store focused on everyday essentials that you would need for your home… from household goods to food. They are not a dollar store.
We strive to make shopping hassle-free and affordable with more than 19,000 convenient, easy-to-shop stores in 48 states. Our stores deliver everyday low prices on items including food, snacks, health and beauty aids, cleaning supplies, basic apparel, housewares, seasonal items, paper products and much more from America’s most-trusted brands and products, along with high-quality private brands.
Dollar General – About Us
I always describe the Dollar General product mix as being similar to a national pharmacy store… without the pharmaceuticals.
Dollar General has been experience explosive growth the last 10-15 years.
Their most recent fiscal year sales totaled $38.8 billion. This is double the revenue of just 10 years ago. In the most recent quarter which ended August 4th 2023 they had net sales of $9.8 billion
Their gross profit margin is around 31%.. Which is significantly higher than a traditional supermarket.
I read most of the comments at the 42 freeway Facebook page and while many people expressed disappointment that the new store coming in is a Dollar General… the reality is communities are spending significant dollars at the stores, and Dollar General is profiting from those sales at a level which enables the brand to continue their significant growth.
I have in my queue to create a short video about Dollar General and Dollar Tree… why does it seem they are the only retail being built? Well, from my perspective the biggest reason is we all utilize online shopping so extensively, that the only stores that we consistently get into our car for are supermarkets and convenience items. “Hey are you going by Dollar General? I need some dishwasher detergent”
Links and Locations
Dollar General Fish Pond Road (Coming Soon)
279 Fish Pond Rd
Sewell – Washington Twp