SimonCRE recently purchased nearly two acres of land along Highway 178 in Inyokern, California with plans to build a 9,100 square foot, build to suit Dollar General retail store. 

The parcel of land is currently undeveloped with the new development slated to begin this month. This is the first Dollar General project in the state of California for SimonCRE, who is a preferred developer for the national retail chain. The new store will open in the first half of 2014.

“The Dollar General store will add true convenience and reasonably priced goods to the Inyokern community,” says Joshua Simon, president of SimonCRE who is overseeing the project development. “There has been a significant amount of planning which is allowing us to break ground quickly. Our goal is to have this new store fully staffed and serving the community early in the new year.”

As dollar stores become a mainstream shopping option they continue to earn a greater share of the consumer wallet. Up against mass retailing giants like Walmart and Target, Dollar General is leading the pack of low-priced mass merchandisers according to a recent industry analysis by Kantar Retail. The national chain recently beat out Walmart and four other stores on a product by product cost comparison with a selected basket of goods. Dollar General and other dollar stores are seeing growth in the affluent shopper demographic.

Three hours northeast of the Los Angeles area, Inyokern has a population of just over one thousand and is situated eight miles from the larger community of Ridgecrest. The Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake is located in Ridgecrest and is the United States Navy’s largest single landholding at more than 1.1 million acres. The Inyokern Airport is integral to the community as it is the only airport within two and half hours and is a popular location for car commercials because of the scenic Sierra Nevada Mountain backdrop.