The news: Dollar Tree and Dollar General reported healthy top-line and same-store sales growth in Q2, as their clear value proposition drove more spending from middle- and high-income shoppers despite pressure on their core low-income customer base.

Dollar Tree’s net sales rose 7% YoY to $4.89 billion, ahead of expectations for $4.86 billion. Comparable sales growth of 3.7% beat the analyst estimate of 3.2%, driven mainly by a higher average ticket (up 3.3%) and a slight increase in traffic (0.4%).

Dollar General’s net sales increased 5.2% YoY to $11.29 billion, beating FactSet’s $11.2 billion estimate. Comparable sales rose 3.5%, well ahead of expectations for 2.6%, thanks to higher transaction sizes and traffic.

What it means: Both retailers credited their Q2 performance to more spending from middle- and higher-income consumers, who have the capacity to purchase higher-margin discretionary items than their traditional lower-income customer base.

Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos noted that the retailer’s core low-income customer is “further [prioritizing] purchases with a focus on value and affordability” as volatile fuel prices and other pressures increase financial strain. At the same time, the company’s nonconsumables business grew faster than grocery in the quarter, reflecting rising trade-in from “that [$100,000] and above crowd” as they look for ways to save money.

Those trade-down trends are manifesting themselves differently at Dollar Tree. Comparable consumable sales rose 5.8%, more than three times the rate of discretionary growth, showing that consumers are relying more on the retailer for lower-priced essentials than other categories.

Zoom in: While Dollar General and Dollar Tree share some growth strategies—including aggressive expansion, better store experiences, and an overall emphasis on value—they are taking notably different approaches to pricing.

Dollar Tree is going all-in on multi-price to increase transaction sizes and protect margins—a strategy that is enabling the retailer to grow comparable sales despite tepid traffic. Nearly 70% of the retailer’s store fleet has now been converted to the multi-price format, with multi-price accounting for 17% of total sales in Q2, up 400 basis points YoY.

As its rival looks to redefine the dollar store, Dollar General is going back to basics. The retailer is selling more items that cost $1 or less—and making sure those products are prominently displayed to shoppers. Dollar General brought its “Value Valley” displays, which showcase over 600 rotating items priced at $1 each, to over 9,000 stores during the quarter, with encouraging results: Stores containing the displays saw higher incremental comparable sales growth than the rest of the chain, with comparable sales for the Value Valley selection alone growing by over 16%.

Implications for retail: Solid growth trends at Dollar General and Dollar Tree underscore a widespread search for value among consumers of all income levels, as well as a growing reliance on dollar stores for more of their everyday needs. Among in-store grocery shoppers, 34.2% report buying packaged foods from discount or dollar stores, nearly equivalent to the number shopping at warehouse clubs for those products, according to our Pulse of the Consumer: Food and Beverage survey.

But continued growth will depend on these retailers’ ability to engage wealthier shoppers, which in turn will require significant investments in stores, assortment, and convenience.

Go further: Check out our Live Earnings Report: Retail & Ecommerce Tracker Q2 2026 for more insights on retailers’ quarterly performance.