DG Market may be coming to another metro-east town. Not everyone is excited

Since reporting that Belleville will get a DG Market on West Main Street later this year, I’ve learned that Mascoutah may be getting one as well.

Mascoutah City Council approved the construction of a new 12,480-square-foot building at 845 N. Jefferson St. in February, which is across the street from an existing Dollar General store.

A DG Market is similar to a standard Dollar General store. The difference is that a DG Market also carries fresh produce, meat and dairy products.

I reached out to Dollar General for comments on this development. They said their commitment to building the market isn’t yet set in stone.

“At this time, we are currently in due diligence phase for a new Dollar General in Mascoutah, which means we are reviewing the opportunity to add a new store in St. Clair County, but we have not committed to doing so just yet,” a company representative said in an email. “Based on our current timeline, we anticipate having a final decision by fall 2024.”

According to public transcripts of the February council meeting, it was asked what would happen to the existing Dollar General store.

David Elkan of Glenwood Equities said the Dollar General project is a relocation plan and expects the existing 9,100 square-foot store to close. Glenwood Equities is listed as the landowner, developer, store owner and property manager in the meeting record.

Bob Elkan, also of Glenwood Equities, said the market stores have larger staff due to store size and traffic. He didn’t give an exact number of staff members but did say normal staff consists of one or two managers and two other employees per shift.

David Elkan said that the new store will be similar to the Freeburg market and that construction will start this fall.

Dg Market Mascoutah - Public Discussion by Jennifer Green on Scribd

What do residents think?

I visited the Mascoutah, IL Residents Page Facebook group and asked residents to share their thoughts on getting a DG Market location in their neighborhood.

Some commenters see it as an opportunity for economic growth in the community and as another shopping option.

“I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for our locals to have more places to go to work and shop in town. Geez folks, after all we have McDonalds, Spudz, Skootr’s, Moto Mart, Casey’s, Saxs’ there is competition between the internet providers with Whisper, Frontier and Spectrum.; look at the banks in town we have Regions as well as Scott Credit Union, First Federal just to name a few businesses that want our business. Competition is a good thing for all of us. Tom’s/Betty Ann’s will survive and thrive just fine.” – Terry Gibbs

“I like the idea. Mascoutah is growing and could use more places to shop. The DG Market has fresh food.” – Mary Elizabeth Graham-Stiehl

Others expressed concerns about the addition of the market, stating problems with Dollar General stores in surrounding communities regarding staffing and inventory and how the market will affect existing small businesses and the community.

“New Baden used to be an awful mess. [You] never knew if it was open or closed. Now it has a great manager (Kim). She goes above and beyond. DG corporate office needs to figure out how to staff the ones they have and hire enough people to stock shelves and get those carts full of merchandise out of the aisles.” – Mary VonBokel

“I definitely prefer local businesses. Local markets. Local restaurants. Local stores. While there is some savings associated with these chains - it doesn’t offset the way they hurt small communities.” – Kelley Ko

“I don’t see the need for another discount store. The town is not large enough to support it and it would just draw more business away from the locally owned stores. Better to have them than a corporate run one with no interest in supporting the community like Betty Ann’s does.” – Rhonda Antoline Ross

“Well, [I] see no need to have one put in town … Freeburg [which has a DG Market] is the town next to Mascoutah. People can … go there if they really want to go to one. I don’t believe we need one. We can build something that we actually need in the town that would be better.” – Amielynn Hicks

I also spoke with Betty Ann Market owner Craig Norrenberns to get his take on the matter.

Part of his concern is that companies like Dollar General don’t contribute to communities or participate in community events the way locally-owned businesses do.

They don’t join the Chamber of Commerce or support local events, he said, adding that people aren’t coming from other communities to shop at stores like Dollar General.

Dollar General Public Relations’ response included comments about joining the Mascoutah community.

“For 85 years, Dollar General has been proud to serve as America’s general store, and we believe our mission and intense customer focus differentiate Dollar General from other seemingly similar retailers,” wrote the spokesperson.

“Similarly to Belleville, we believe the new Mascoutah store will offer numerous benefits to the community, including customers; new employees; local libraries, nonprofits and schools; and the municipality itself.

“We appreciate the opportunity to highlight our stance as a strong business partner and good neighbor and are optimistic for the opportunity to serve both Mascoutah and Belleville.”

DG Market Mascoutah - SITE PLANS by Jennifer Green on Scribd