The Zaremba Group, an Ohio-based development company, is looking for possible sites for new Dollar General stores in Vale and Nyssa. (Kezia Setyawan/The Enterprise)
NYSSA – An Ohio development firm is scouting Vale and Nyssa to potentially make way for two new Dollar General stores.
The Zaremba Group, a real estate development company, has submitted a preliminary site plan to the Malheur County Building Department for a Dollar General store in Nyssa.
The company also reached out to Vale landowners about the possibility of buying property along A Street. The contacts were made late last year.
There are more than 16,000 Dollar General stores in 46 states, including 57 in Oregon The largest number of Dollar General stores – 1,552 – are in Texas.
The stores offer food, cleaning supplies, beauty aids, clothes, homewares and paper products from national and private brands.
The corporation is expanding across the U.S.
“We believe we have substantial long-term growth potential in the U.S. and we have identified significant opportunities to add new stores in both existing and new markets,” the company said in its 2019 annual report.
The ability of the chain to “effectively deliver both value and convenience” to customers in rural areas, or “small markets,” is one key to its success, according to the annual report.
In 2019, the chain recorded $26.4 billion in sales, the report said.
The proposed site in Nyssa is at 601 Main St. – the former location of the Apple Valley Pizza – between U.S. Highway 26 and Adrian Boulevard.
Nyssa City Manager Jim Maret said the city is excited about the possibility of a Dollar General store.
“We said we’d help them any way we can,” said Maret.
Maret said since then he had not been in contact with The Zaremba Group for several months.
Apple Valley Pizza closed about a year ago, said Maret. County records show the building is owned by Charles and Valene Hansen.
The assessed value of the building and the lot at 601 Main St. is $249,589, according to county records.
The corporation hasn’t filed for a building permit for the Nyssa site.
Angela Petkovic, a spokesman for the Dollar General, said the company is “currently in the due diligence phase for a new Dollar General in Nyssa.”
“This means we are reviewing the opportunity to add a new store in the area, but we have not committed to do so just yet,” said Petkovic.
The situation in Vale is less solid. Petkovic didn’t reply to a question from the Enterprise about the Dollar General interest in Vale.
The property along A Street consists of eight lots. One of those lots is owned by local property manager Hugh Humphrey while the other seven are held by Derek Chamberlain. Chamberlain and his wife, Claire, own Vale’s CAPS Auto, Truck & Ag.
Chamberlin and Humphrey said they’ve signed an option agreement with Zaremba on the lots but so far, any deal remains in limbo.
“I haven’t heard anything from them in two months,” said Chamberlain. “They are looking at a bunch of different places. The whole deal, really, is pretty fluid.”
Humphrey said any potential deal is “in the air right now,” but Zaremba “put $1,000 down” as part of the option to buy contract.
Humphrey said Dollar General typically searches for small, rural communities for its stores.
“They do about 40 a year,” said Humphrey.
No preliminary site plan or a building permit has been issued by the building department for a General Dollar store in Vale.
According to the company’s annual report, it generally leases propriety for its store locations.
“Many stores, including a significant portion of our new stores, are subject to build-to-suit arrangements with landlords, which typically carry a primary lease term of up to 15 years with multiple renewal options. We also have stores subject to shorter-term leases, and many of these leases have renewal options,” the company said in its annual report.
On June 5, The Zaremba Group submitted an application to the city of John Day for a new store.
There are Dollar General stores scattered across Oregon in place such as Creswell, Culver and Silverton.
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