Dollar General moving down the street

Andalusia is getting a new Dollar General Store, corporate officials confirmed Wednesday.

The site, which is located on Shelby Street behind the Kangaroo Store convenience store, will serve as a relocation spot for the current store located just down the road on U.S. Hwy. 29 North, said Crystal Ghassemi of Dollar General’s public relations department.

“Construction started last week, as a matter of fact,” Ghassemi said. “However, the store is not set to open until late July 2014. That’s what the planning schedule is set at now, but construction progress can affect the opening of the store.”

Ghassemi said the new store will be 20 percent larger that the store’s current location, with 7,200 square-foot of shopping space.

“The layout is going to be identical to the store in Red Level,” she said.

There won’t be any additional employees hired when the store opens, she said.

“During a relocation, we don’t add employees,” she said. “The current staff will transition to the new location; however, when we open, we celebrate as if it is a new store.”

Currently, there are seven Dollar General stores countywide, with Andalusia serving as home to four of those.