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Dollar General Lot Cleared for New Washington Township Store on Delsea (5-Points)

Dollar General Lot Cleared for New Washington Township Store on Delsea (5-Points)

Land is being cleared on Delsea Drive (rt 47) just South of the 5-points intersection, for a new free-standing Dollar General store.  42Freeway first brought you this story in July of 2020.

To clarify… Dollar General is NOT a dollar store.  Dollar General is a general merchandise store… kind of like today’s larger pharmacies but without the actual pharmacy.  ha!    Dollar Tree is the dollar store (and this new building is not a Dollar Tree)

The exact location of the new store is 143 Delsea Drive.   While not directly on the 5-points intersection (47 & 41), it is only .15 a mile from the center down Delsea 47, so its fair to still call it the 5-points area!

The new Dollar General is just passed the Five Points Car Wash (on the same side) and directly across from the Tower Commons Office Campus.   McDonald’s is very close by across the street, and the Lamp & Shade Works building is just a little further to the South.

The new Dollar General property was previously an empty field situated between a few homes.

Existing Dollar General Relocating

There is already an existing Dollar General operating very close to this location, in the Tower Square Shopping Center (fronting Egg Harbor Rd).  

Tower Square is also where the popular Village Pub is located.

There is a real estate listing for the existing Dollar General property, listing the space as 8,911 square feet.   (PDF)

The new Dollar General that is under construction nearby will be larger at 10,640 sq ft…  not considerably larger but it is 15% or so.

So a larger store is one reason for relocating. 

It would also seem that the location on Delsea Drive would provide a lot more “drive by” traffic.  It really does help function as free advertising to have your store where the cars travel!  “Oh yea, I forgot that was in the area”

And lastly.. Dollar General is expanding at such a clip, they have the process and costs of building new locations down to an inexpensive science.  

An August 2020 article in Supermarket News states 

For fiscal 2020, Dollar General aims to open 1,000 new stores, remodel 1,670 stores and relocate 110 stores, for a total of 2,780 real estate projects.

1,000 new stores in a single Covid impacted year is a crazy number…  and of course not all of them are new construction, but where it makes sense they will make it happen.

New Store Build in Runnemede Also

This is an exact pattern that is being followed in Runnemede New Jersey, where the existing older strip-mall store is being replaced by a brand new free standing store directly next to the shopping center… and directly on the roadway!

It would seem the two stores are on a common development timeline, and it will be interesting to see how the two buildings differ, if at all!

Five Points Development

As we called out in our July 2020 article, there are a variety of projects in play for the 5-points area.

  • Blackwood-Barnsboro Realignment: This project is completed, and with a quick timeline.  This project moved the intersection with Egg Harbor road further down away from the main 5-points intersection, and provides a larger piece of land for development
  • Super Wawa and fast-food restaurant:  The Super Wawa property has been cleared and some property work has been done, but for now no development has taken place.  The original approvals also included an adjacent smaller fast-food restaurant building, but we don’t believe a tenant has been acquired yet.  42Freeway will have a separate post on the Super Wawa in a few days.
    • Larger Retail Complex: Wanted to note that the developers of the Wawa are also planning a larger retail development to continue down Egg Harbor Road.  That project is in early concept phase and has not been presented to the Planning Boards.
  • Deptford Warehouses:  Two massive warehouses were approved on the unused land around the Kinsley Landfill, but they are much further down Rt 41.  The impact to 5-points is that in a surprise move they will be routing traffic up 41 to the 5-points intersection and then the sharp right down Route 47 to the 55 highway entrance.  This will require additional intersection changes, such as rounding out the corner to make it easier for trucks to turn.
  • Bella Vista Project:  This ambitious project just a little further South on Delsea, appeared on the Washington Township Planning Board agenda last fall, but the developer has not actually presented.   42Freeway hasn’t pushed for details on the status up to this point, but we have reached out to the project owner for details.
  • Fetch Pet Resort:  Opened Feb 8th 2020, a little further South on Delsea. An awesome pet day/night care facility!
  • McDonald’s Remodel: About 2 years ago the McDonald’s at 5-points was remodeled.

We are actively researching an updated status on the Super Wawa and Bella Vista projects.