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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

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FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

☒Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

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For the fiscal year ended February 2, 2024, or

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☐Transition Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

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For the transition period from ________ to ________

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Commission file number: 001-11421

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100 MISSION RIDGE

GOODLETTSVILLE, TN 37072

(Address of principal executive offices, zip code)

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Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (615) 855-4000

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Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒   No ☐

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐   No ☒

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

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If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐   No ☒

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The aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock outstanding and held by non-affiliates as of August 4, 2023 was $36.7 billion calculated using the closing market price of the registrant’s common stock as reported on the NYSE on such date ($167.77). For this purpose, directors, executive officers and greater than 10% record shareholders are considered the affiliates of the registrant.

The registrant had 219,671,316 shares of common stock outstanding as of March 21, 2024.

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DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

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Certain of the information required in Part III of this Form 10-K is incorporated by reference to the registrant’s definitive proxy statement to be filed for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 29, 2024.

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INTRODUCTION

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General

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This report contains references to years 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021, which represent fiscal years ending or ended January 31, 2025, February 2, 2024, February 3, 2023 and January 28, 2022, respectively. Our fiscal year ends on the Friday closest to January 31. Our 2022 fiscal year consisted of 53 weeks, while each of the remaining years listed consists of 52 weeks. All of the discussion and analysis in this report should be read with, and is qualified in its entirety by, the Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes.

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Solely for convenience, our trademarks and tradenames may appear in this report without the ® or TM symbol which is not intended to indicate that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the right to these trademarks and tradenames.

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Cautionary Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

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We include “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws throughout this report, particularly under the headings “Business,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and “Note 7 – Commitments and Contingencies,” among others. You can identify these statements because they are not limited to historical fact or they use words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “can,” “would,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “project,” “plan,” “expect,” “estimate,” “goal,” “seek,” “ensure,” “potential,” “opportunity,” “intend,” “predict,” “committed,” “likely,” “continue,” “strive,” “aim,” “scheduled,” “focused on,” “long-term,” “future,” “over time,” “ongoing,” “uncertain,” “moving forward,” or “subject to” and similar expressions that concern our strategies, plans, initiatives, intentions or beliefs about future occurrences or results or other future matters. For example, all statements relating to, among others, the following are forward-looking statements:

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All forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may change at any time and may cause our actual results to differ materially from those that we expected. We derive many of these statements from our operating budgets and forecasts as of the date of this document, which are based on many detailed assumptions that we believe are reasonable. However, it is very difficult to predict the effect of known factors on future results, and we cannot anticipate all factors that could affect future results that may be important to you.

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Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in or implied by our forward-looking statements are disclosed under “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A and elsewhere in this document (including, without limitation, in conjunction with the forward-looking statements themselves and under the heading “Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates”). All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by these and other cautionary statements that we make from time to time in our other Securities and Exchange Commission filings and public communications. You should evaluate forward-looking statements in the context of these risks and uncertainties and are cautioned to not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. We caution you that these factors may not contain all of the factors that are important to you. We cannot assure you that we will realize the results, performance or developments we expect or anticipate or, even if substantially realized, that they will result in the consequences or affect us or our operations in the way we expect. The forward-looking statements in this report are made only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation, and specifically disclaim any duty, to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or circumstances, or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.

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You should also be aware that while we do, from time to time, communicate with securities analysts and others, it is against our policy to disclose to them any material, nonpublic information or other confidential commercial information. Accordingly, shareholders should not assume that we agree with any statement or report issued by any securities analyst regardless of the content of the statement or report. Furthermore, we have a policy against confirming any projections, forecasts or opinions issued by others. Thus, to the extent that reports issued by securities analysts contain any projections, forecasts or opinions, such reports are not our responsibility.

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Substantial Growth Opportunities. We believe we have substantial long-term growth potential in the U.S., and we have identified significant opportunities to add new stores, including our pOpshelf concept, in both existing and new markets. In addition, we have opportunities to relocate, remodel or convert locations within our existing store base to better serve our customers. Our pOpshelf concept, which we continue to evaluate and evolve, represents an additional growth opportunity as a unique small-box retail concept that focuses on categories such as seasonal and home décor, health and beauty, home cleaning supplies, and party and entertainment goods. We have also identified international expansion, with an initial focus on Mexico, as an opportunity for growth. We opened our first Mi Súper Dollar General stores in Mexico in 2023 and believe there is additional growth potential in Mexico in the years ahead. Our attractive store economics, including a relatively low initial investment and simple, low-cost operating model, and our variety of store formats have allowed us to grow our store base to current levels and provide us significant opportunities to continue our profitable store growth strategy.

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Our Merchandise

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We offer a focused assortment of everyday necessities, which we believe helps to drive frequent customer visits, and key items in a broad range of general merchandise categories. Our product assortment provides the opportunity for our customers to address most of their basic shopping needs with one trip. We offer a wide selection of nationally advertised brands from leading manufacturers. Additionally, our private brand products offer even greater value with options to purchase both products that are of comparable quality to national brands as well as opening price point items, each often at substantial discounts to the national brands.

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Consumables is our largest merchandise category and includes paper and cleaning products (such as paper towels, bath tissue, paper dinnerware, trash and storage bags, disinfectants, and laundry); packaged food (such as cereals, pasta, canned soups, canned meats, fruits and vegetables, condiments, spices, sugar and flour); perishables (such as milk, eggs, bread, refrigerated and frozen food, beer, wine and produce); snacks (such as candy, cookies, crackers, salty snacks and carbonated beverages); health and beauty (such as over-the-counter medicines and personal care products including soap, body wash, shampoo, cosmetics, dental hygiene and foot care products); pet (such as pet supplies and pet food); and tobacco products.

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Seasonal products include holiday items, toys, batteries, small electronics, greeting cards, stationery, prepaid phones and accessories, gardening supplies, hardware, automotive and home office supplies.

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Home products include kitchen supplies, cookware, small appliances, light bulbs, storage containers, frames, candles, craft supplies and kitchen, bed and bath soft goods.

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Apparel includes basic items for infants, toddlers, girls, boys, women and men, as well as socks, underwear, disposable diapers, shoes and accessories.

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The percentage of net sales of each of our four categories of merchandise for the fiscal years indicated below was as follows:

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Our seasonal and home products categories typically account for the highest gross profit margins, and the consumables category typically accounts for the lowest gross profit margin.

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The Dollar General Store

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The typical Dollar General store is operated by a store manager, one or more assistant store managers, and three or more sales associates. Our stores generally feature a low-cost, no frills building with limited capital requirements, low operating costs, and a focused merchandise offering within a broad range of categories, allowing us to deliver low retail prices while generating strong cash flows and capital investment returns. Our stores currently average approximately 7,500 square feet of selling space, and approximately 80% of our stores are located in towns of 20,000 or fewer people. Our primary new store formats currently average selling space of approximately 8,500 square feet and 9,500 square feet. We generally have had good success in locating suitable store sites in the past, and we believe that there is ample opportunity for new store growth in existing and new markets. In addition, we believe we have significant opportunities available for our relocation and remodel programs.

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Our store growth over the past three years is summarized in the following table:

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Our Customers

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Our customers seek value and convenience. Depending on their financial situation and geographic proximity, customers’ reliance on Dollar General varies from fill-in shopping, to making periodic trips to stock up on household items, to making weekly or more frequent trips to meet most essential needs. We generally locate our stores and plan our merchandise selections to best serve the needs of our core customers, the low and fixed income households often underserved by other retailers (including grocers), and we are focused on helping them make the most of their spending dollars. At the same time, however, Dollar General shoppers from a wide range of income brackets and life stages appreciate our quality merchandise as well as our attractive value and convenience proposition.

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Our Suppliers

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We purchase merchandise from a wide variety of suppliers and maintain direct buying relationships with many producers of national brand merchandise. Despite our broad offering, we maintain only a limited number of items per category, allowing us to keep our average costs low. Our two largest suppliers accounted for approximately 10% and 8%, respectively, of our purchases in 2023. Our private brands come from a wide variety of suppliers. We directly imported approximately 4% of our purchases at cost in 2023.

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Distribution and Transportation

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Our stores are currently supported by distribution centers for frozen, refrigerated and non-refrigerated merchandise located strategically throughout our geographic footprint. We lease additional temporary warehouse space as necessary to support our distribution needs. In addition to our traditional distribution centers, we operate multiple temperature-controlled distribution facilities in support of our self-distribution of frozen and refrigerated goods, such as dairy, deli and frozen products. We regularly analyze and rebalance the distribution network with a goal of ensuring that it remains efficient and provides the service levels our stores require. See “—Properties” below for additional information pertaining to our distribution centers.

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Most of our merchandise flows through our distribution centers and is delivered to our stores by our private fleet and by third-party trucking firms, utilizing our trailers. In addition, vendors or third-party distributors deliver or ship certain food items and other merchandise directly to our stores.

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Seasonality

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The nature of our business is somewhat seasonal. Generally, our operating profit has been greater in the fourth quarter, which includes the Christmas selling season, as compared with operating profit in each of the first three quarters of our fiscal year. In addition, our quarterly results can be affected by the timing of certain holidays, new store openings, remodels, relocations, store closings, and weather patterns. See “Item 7. Management’s Discussion & Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation” for further discussion of seasonality.

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Our Competition

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We operate in the basic discount consumer goods market, which is highly competitive with respect to price, customers, store location, merchandise quality, assortment and presentation, service offerings, in-stock consistency, customer service, promotional activity, employees, and market share. We compete with discount stores and many other retailers, including mass merchandise, warehouse club, grocery, drug, convenience, variety, online, and certain specialty stores. These other retail companies operate stores in many of the areas where we operate, and many of them engage in extensive advertising and marketing efforts. Our direct competitors include Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, Big Lots, 99 Cents Only and various local, independent operators, as well as Walmart, Target, Kroger, Aldi, Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid, among others. Certain of our competitors have greater financial, distribution, marketing and other resources than we do and may be able to secure better arrangements from suppliers than we can. Competition is intense and we believe it will continue to be so, with certain competitors reducing their store locations while others move into or increase their presence in our geographic and product markets and increase the availability of mobile, web-based and other digital technology to facilitate a more convenient and competitive online and in-store customer shopping experience.

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We believe that we differentiate ourselves from other forms of retailing by offering competitive prices in a convenient, small-store format. We are able to maintain competitive prices due in part to our low-cost operating structure and the relatively limited assortment of products offered. Purchasing large volumes of merchandise within our focused assortment in each merchandise category allows us to keep our average product costs low, contributing to our ability to offer competitive everyday low prices to our customers. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors” for further discussion of our competitive situation.

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Our Intellectual Property

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We own marks that are registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and are protected under applicable intellectual property laws, including, without limitation, Dollar General®, DG®, Clover Valley®, trueliving®, pOpshelf®, and Mi Super Dollar General® along with variations and formatives of these trademarks. We attempt to obtain registration of our trademarks whenever practicable and to pursue vigorously any infringement of those marks. Our trademark registrations have various expiration dates; however, assuming that the trademark registrations are properly renewed, they have a perpetual duration. We also hold an exclusive license to the Rexall brand through at least March 5, 2029 and the Believe Beauty brand through at least March 18, 2025.

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Human Capital Resources

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At Dollar General, a foundational element in how we operate is exemplified in our fourth operating priority – Investing in our diverse teams through development, empowerment and inclusion. Building on our core value of respecting the dignity and differences of others, our goal is to create a work environment where each employee is encouraged and empowered to bring their unique perspective and voice to work each day. Based on a talent philosophy of “Attract, Develop, and Retain”, whether an individual works in a store, a distribution center, our store support center or our international offices, over the last 80+ years, we have helped millions of individuals start and progress in their careers, providing employees with numerous opportunities to gain new skills and develop their talents, supported by our award-winning training and development programs.

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Attract

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We seek to provide market competitive compensation and benefits packages that attract talent to the organization and then retain and incent employees for performance. Although eligibility for and the level of benefits vary depending on the employee’s full-time or part-time status, compensation level, date of hire, and/or length of service, the broad range of benefits we provide or make available may include: medical, prescription, telemedicine, dental and vision plans; flexible spending accounts; disability insurance; 401(k) plan; paid vacation; employee assistance programs with access to legal assistance and counseling; healthy lifestyle and disease management programs; education assistance benefits; parental leave; adoption assistance; service award recognition; and a broad range of discounts for other products and services. To help measure the success of our overall employee compensation and benefits programs, we monitor employee applicant flow and staffing levels across the organization, as well as employee turnover, particularly at the store manager level.

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Develop

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As a testament to our employee development efforts, in February 2021 we were inducted into Training magazine’s Hall of Fame, following two consecutive years as the magazine’s top training and development program and rounding out 10 consecutive years among its Top 100 list. In 2023, we estimate we invested over four million training hours in our employees to promote their education and development.

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We enhance our development programs each year based on the current needs of our employees and the business. We offer a variety of differentiated programs, including mentorship, cohorts, and leader-led and experiential opportunities to ensure there is a path of development for all employees.

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Our internal promotion rate helps us measure the success of our development programs. As of March 1, 2024, we employed approximately 185,800 full-time and part-time employees, including divisional and regional managers, district managers, store managers, other store employees, and distribution center, fleet and administrative employees. As of the end of 2023, more than 70% of store managers and thousands of additional employees, including several members of our senior leadership, have been promoted from within our organization.

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Retain

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We strive to create an environment where our employees feel respected, safe, empowered, and valued. We regularly monitor retention and engagement levels across the organization through a variety of means, working to understand what is important to our employees and how we can best continue to meet their evolving needs.

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Compliance with Governmental Regulations

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Our operations are subject to the applicable federal, state, local and foreign laws, rules, and regulations of the jurisdictions in which we operate or conduct business. These laws, rules and regulations relate to, among other things, the sale of products, including without limitation, product and food safety, marketing and labeling; information security and privacy; labor and employment; employee wages and benefits; health and safety; real property; public accommodations; anti-bribery; financial reporting and disclosure, including disclosures related to

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environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) matters; pricing; antitrust and fair competition; anti-money laundering; transportation; imports and customs; intellectual property; taxes; and environmental compliance.

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We routinely incur significant compliance-related costs, both direct and indirect, including investments in store standards and labor, such as our approximately $150 million labor investment in 2023. Although we may incur additional material compliance-related costs in the future, to date, other than the investments referenced above, compliance with these laws, rules and regulations has not had a material effect on our capital expenditures, earnings or competitive position. Many of our entry-level store employees are paid at rates in line with the applicable state minimum wage, and consequently, in certain situations, increases to such wage rates have increased our labor costs. If federal, state and/or local minimum wage rates/salary levels were to increase significantly and/or rapidly, compliance with such increases could adversely affect our earnings. Additionally, if significant changes in the federal, state or foreign corporate tax rates occur in the future, such change could adversely affect our overall effective tax rate and earnings. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors” for additional information regarding government regulations that could impact our business.

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Available Information

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Our Internet website address is www.dollargeneral.com. The information on our website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this Form 10-K. We file with or furnish to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, proxy statements and annual reports to shareholders, and, from time to time, registration statements and other documents pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). These documents are available free of charge to investors on or through the Investor Information section of our website (https://investor.dollargeneral.com) as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with or furnish them to the SEC. The SEC also maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers, such as Dollar General, that file electronically with the SEC. The address of that website is http://www.sec.gov.

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execution, workforce stability, ease of execution and scalability, customer adoption, and the absence of offsetting factors that can influence results adversely. The number and diverse geographic locations of our stores and distribution centers and our decentralized field management also contribute to the challenging nature of these factors. Other risk factors described herein also could negatively affect general implementation. Failure to achieve successful or cost-effective implementation of our initiatives could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The success of our merchandising initiatives, particularly those related to non-consumable products (including our pOpshelf concept) and efforts to increase sales of higher margin products within the consumables category, further depends in part upon our ability to accurately predict the products that our customers will demand and to accurately identify and timely respond to evolving trends in consumer preferences and demographic mixes in our markets. If we are unable to select and timely obtain products that are attractive to customers and at costs that allow us to sell them at an acceptable profit, or to effectively market such products, it could result in materially decreased sales and profitability. Despite these initiatives, our sales mix continued to shift from non-consumables toward consumables in 2023, and our consumables sales as a percentage of total sales is currently at historical highs. Additionally, factors negatively affecting our customers’ disposable income can have (and we believe recently have had) a larger negative impact on non-consumables sales results than consumables sales results and on our pOpshelf concept.

The success of our self-checkout option in our stores depends in part on successful acquisition, implementation and maintenance of the necessary hardware and new point of sale software, continued customer interest in and adoption of self-checkout and our ability to gain cost efficiencies and control shrink levels from self-checkout. To address shrink challenges presented by self-checkout as well as to enhance the overall customer and employee experience in our stores, we are revising our self-checkout strategy, including limiting self-checkout to transactions of five items or fewer, converting all or some self-checkout registers in approximately 9,000 stores to assisted checkout options, and removing self-checkout from approximately 300 stores.

The success of DG Media Network, which is our platform for connecting brand partners with our customers to drive even greater value for each, further depends on our ability to successfully gather target customer audiences that deliver consistent, predictable and beneficial returns on advertising spending to generate interest and demand from our brand partners, as well as to properly handle and secure all sensitive customer data.

We face intense competition that could limit our growth opportunities and materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

The retail business is highly competitive with respect to price, customers, store location, merchandise quality, product assortment and presentation, service offerings, product sourcing and supply chain capacity, in-stock consistency, customer service, ease of shopping experience (including but not limited to various modes of shopping, including online alternatives), promotional activity, employees, and market share. We compete with discount stores and many other retailers, including mass merchandise, warehouse club, grocery, drug, convenience, variety, online retailers, and certain specialty stores. To maintain our competitive position, we may be required to lower prices, either temporarily or permanently, and may have limited ability to increase prices in response to increased costs, resulting in lower margins and reduced profitability. Certain of our competitors have greater financial, distribution, marketing and other resources, and may be able to secure better arrangements with suppliers, than we.

Competition is intense, and is expected to continue to be so, with certain competitors reducing their store locations while others enter or increase their presence in our geographic and product markets (including through the expansion of availability of delivery services) and expand availability of mobile, web-based and other digital technologies to facilitate a more convenient and competitive online and in-store shopping experience. We currently do not offer online shopping to a significant degree and have seen a greater willingness of our customers to adopt online shopping. In addition, if our competitors or others were to enter our industry in a significant way, including through alliances or other business combinations, it could significantly alter the competitive dynamics of the retail marketplace and result in competitors with greatly improved competitive positions, which could materially affect our financial performance. Our ability to effectively compete will depend substantially upon our continued ability to develop and execute compelling and cost-effective strategies and initiatives. If we fail to anticipate or respond

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effectively to competitive pressures, industry changes and customer preferences and shopping habits, it could materially affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Operational Risks

If we cannot timely and cost-effectively execute our real estate projects and meet our financial expectations, or if we do not anticipate or successfully address the challenges imposed by our expansion, including into new countries or domestic markets, states, or urban or suburban areas, it could materially impede our planned future growth and our profitability.

Delays in or failure to complete a significant portion of our real estate projects, or failure to meet our financial expectations for these projects, could materially and adversely affect our growth and our profitability. Our ability to timely open, relocate and remodel profitable stores and expand into additional market areas is a key component of our planned future growth and may depend in part on: the availability of suitable store locations and capital funding; the absence of entitlement process, permitting or occupancy delays, including zoning restrictions and moratoria on small box discount retail development such as those passed by certain local governments in areas where we operate or seek to operate; supply chain volatility resulting in delivery delays, and in some cases, lack of availability of store equipment, building materials, and store merchandise for resale; the ability to negotiate acceptable lease and development terms (for example, real estate development requirements and cost of building materials and labor), to cost-effectively hire and train qualified new personnel, especially store managers, and to identify and accurately assess sufficient customer demand; and general economic conditions. While we continued to experience certain of these factors at heightened levels in 2023, to date, they have not materially impaired our ability to complete our planned real estate projects or growth, and thus, have not had a material adverse effect on our financial performance. However, if the levels which we have experienced escalate or remain elevated for an extended period of time, we expect that they could have a material adverse effect on our ability to complete our future planned real estate projects or growth, and in turn, a material adverse effect on our financial performance. Both inflation and higher interest rates have significantly increased new store opening costs and occupancy costs, which have negatively impacted our projected new store returns and influenced our 2024 new store growth plans.

We also may not anticipate or successfully address all of the challenges imposed by the expansion of our operations (including our pOpshelf store concept), including into new countries or domestic markets, states or urban or suburban areas where we have limited or no meaningful experience or brand recognition. Those areas may have different regulatory environments, competitive and market conditions, consumer tastes and discretionary spending patterns than our existing markets, as well as higher cost of entry and operating costs. These factors may cause our new stores to be less profitable than stores in our existing markets, which could slow future growth in these areas. In addition, many new stores will be located in areas where we have existing stores, which inadvertently may temporarily or permanently divert a larger than anticipated number of customers and sales from our existing stores, thereby adversely affecting our overall financial performance.

Inventory shrinkage and damages may negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We experience significant inventory shrinkage and damages. Although some level of inventory shrinkage and damages is an unavoidable cost of doing business, higher rates of inventory shrinkage and damages or increased security measures or other costs to combat inventory theft could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. During 2023, our inventory shrink and damages results remained significantly elevated and materially impacted our results. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in our efforts to contain or reduce inventory shrinkage and damages.

Our cash flows from operations, profitability and financial condition may be negatively affected if we are not successful in managing our inventory balances.

Our inventory balance represented approximately 49% of our total assets exclusive of goodwill, operating lease assets, and other intangible assets as of February 2, 2024. Efficient inventory management is a key component of our business success and profitability. We must maintain sufficient inventory levels and an appropriate product

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mix to meet our customers’ demands without allowing those levels to increase such that the costs to store and hold the goods unduly impacts our financial results, increases the risk of inventory shrinkage or damages or impacts store standards. If we do not accurately predict customer trends, spending levels, or price sensitivity, we may have to take unanticipated markdowns to dispose of the excess inventory, which also can adversely affect our financial results. Our pOpshelf concept is particularly susceptible to this risk as it is reliant upon accurate customer trend prediction and the level of customers’ disposable income. During 2023, we experienced materially elevated inventory levels, as well as lower in-stock levels on certain items, which had a significant impact on our financial performance, but were able to significantly reduce our inventory levels by 2023 year-end. We continue to focus on ways to reduce these risks and ensure the right products are on the shelves for our customers, but we cannot make assurances that we will be successful in our inventory management. If we are not successful in managing our inventory balances, our cash flows from operations and financial condition may be negatively affected.

Failure to maintain the security of our business, customer, employee or vendor information or to comply with privacy laws could expose us to litigation, government enforcement actions and costly response measures, and could materially harm our reputation and affect our business and financial performance.

In connection with sales, we transmit confidential credit and debit card information which is encrypted using point-to-point encryption. We also have access to, collect or maintain certain private or confidential information regarding our customers, employees and their dependents, vendors and business. Some of this information is stored electronically in connection with our e-commerce and mobile applications, some of which may leverage third-party service providers. Additionally, we may share information with and depend upon select vendors to assist us in conducting our business. While we have implemented procedures and technology intended to protect such information and require appropriate controls of our vendors, external attackers could compromise such controls and result in unauthorized disclosure of such information, as attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, may include attacks on our third-party business partners, and do not always or immediately produce detectable indicators of compromise. Moreover, inadvertent or malicious internal personnel actions could result in a defeat of security measures and a compromise of our or our third-party vendors’ information systems. Furthermore, if a vendor is the victim of a cyberattack, including a ransomware attack, such attack could have a corresponding material effect on our ability to do business with that vendor or to receive information that may be required to timely prepare our financial statements. Due to the political tensions involving China, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, there is an increased likelihood that escalation of tensions could result in cyberattacks that could directly or indirectly impact our operations. Like other retailers, we and our vendors have experienced threats to, and incidents involving, data and systems, including by perpetrators of attempted random or targeted malicious attacks; computer malware, ransomware, bots, or other destructive or disruptive hardware and/or software; and attempts to misappropriate our and our customers’ information and cause system failures and disruptions, although to date none have been material to our business. If attackers obtain customer, employee or vendor passwords through unrelated third-party breaches, and if impacted customers, employees, or vendors do not employ good online security practices (e.g., use the same password across different sites or do not use available multifactor authentication options), these passwords could be used to gain access to their information or accounts with us in certain situations.

Because we accept debit and credit cards for payment, we are subject to industry data protection standards and protocols, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, issued by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. Nonetheless, we or our applicable payment processing partner(s), may be vulnerable to, and unable to detect and appropriately respond to, cardholder data security breaches and data loss, including successful attacks on applications, systems, or networks.

A significant security breach of any kind experienced by us or one of our vendors, which could be undetected for a period of time, or a significant failure by us or one of our vendors to comply with applicable privacy and information security laws, regulations and standards could expose us to risks of data loss, litigation, government enforcement actions, fines or penalties, credit card brand assessments, negative publicity and reputational harm, business disruption and costly response measures (e.g., providing notification to, and credit monitoring services for, affected individuals, as well as further upgrades to our security measures; procuring a replacement vendor if one of our current vendors is unable to fulfill its obligations to us due to a cyberattack or incident) which may not be covered by or may exceed the coverage limits of our insurance policies, and could

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materially disrupt our operations. Any resulting negative publicity could significantly harm our reputation which could cause us to lose market share because of customers discontinuing the use of our e-commerce and mobile applications or debit or credit cards in our stores or not shopping in our stores altogether and could materially and adversely affect our business and financial performance.

Material damage or interruptions to our information systems as a result of external factors, staffing shortages or challenges in maintaining or updating our existing technology or developing or implementing new technology could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We depend on a variety of information technology systems, including systems owned and managed by third-party vendors, for the efficient functioning of our business, including, without limitation, transaction processing and the management of our employees, facilities, logistics, inventories, stores and customer-facing digital applications and operations. Such systems are subject to damage or interruption from power surges and outages, facility damage, physical theft, computer and telecommunications failures, inadequate or ineffective redundancy, malicious code (including malware, ransomware, or similar), successful attacks (e.g., account compromise; phishing; denial of service; and application, network or system vulnerability exploitation), software upgrade failures or code defects, natural disasters and human error. Due to the political tensions involving China, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, there is an increased likelihood that escalation of tensions could result in cyberattacks that could either directly or indirectly impact our operations. Design defects, damage to, or interruption to these systems may require a significant investment to repair or replace, disrupt our operations and affect our ability to meet business and reporting requirements, result in the loss or corruption of critical data, and harm our reputation, all of which could materially and adversely affect our business or results of operations.

Our technology initiatives may not deliver desired results or may do so on a delayed schedule. We rely heavily on our information technology staff to fulfill our technology initiatives while continuing to provide maintenance on existing systems, as well as on third parties to maintain and periodically upgrade many of these systems so that they can continue to support our business. Further, we license the software programs supporting many of our systems from independent software developers. The inability or failure of these vendors, developers or us to continue to maintain and upgrade these systems and software programs or efficiently implement and integrate new systems could disrupt or reduce the efficiency of our operations or retain vulnerability exploitation risk if we were unable to convert to alternate systems in an efficient and timely manner and could expose us to greater risk of a successful attack. In addition, costs and delays for any reason associated with the implementation of new or upgraded systems and technology, including the migration of applications to the cloud, modernizing of legacy systems or our current implementation of our new point of sale system, or with maintenance or adequate support of existing systems also could disrupt or reduce the efficiency of our operations, fail to operate as designed, result in the potential loss or corruption of data or information or lost sales, cause business interruptions, inhibit our ability to innovate, and affect our ability to meet business and reporting requirements and adversely affect our profitability.

A significant disruption to our distribution network, the capacity of our distribution centers or the timely receipt of inventory could adversely affect sales or increase our transportation costs, which would decrease our profitability.

We rely on our distribution and transportation network to provide goods to our stores timely and cost-effectively. Using various transportation modes, including ocean, rail, and truck, we and our vendors move goods from vendor locations to our distribution centers and our stores, and we also lease additional temporary warehouse space as necessary to support our distribution needs. Any disruption, unanticipated or unusual expense or operational failure related to this process (including, without limitation, inventory receipt and delivery delays; increases in fuel costs; increases in transportation costs, including increased import freight costs, carrier or driver wages (as a result of driver shortages or otherwise); earlier than expected receipt of seasonal inventory leading to capacity constraints which can be exacerbated by unexpected delays in acquiring additional temporary warehouse space sufficient for our inventory needs; a decrease in transportation capacity for overseas shipments or port closures; labor shortages; or work stoppages or slowdowns) could negatively impact sales and profits. Labor shortages or work stoppages or slowdowns in the transportation industry or disruptions to the national and

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international transportation infrastructure that necessitate our securing alternative labor or shipping suppliers could also increase our costs or otherwise negatively affect our business.

We maintain a network of distribution facilities and are moving forward with plans to build or lease new facilities (including temperature-controlled distribution centers) to support our growth objectives and strategic initiatives. Delays in opening such facilities could adversely affect our financial performance by slowing store growth or the rollout/development of certain strategic initiatives, which may in turn reduce revenue growth and/or profitability, or by increasing transportation and product costs. In addition, distribution-related construction or expansion projects entail risks that could cause delays and cost overruns, such as: availability of temperature-controlled distribution centers and refrigerated transportation equipment; shortages of materials or skilled labor; work stoppages; unforeseen construction, scheduling, engineering, environmental or geological problems; weather interference; fires or other casualty losses; and unanticipated cost increases. For these reasons, the completion date and ultimate cost of these projects could differ significantly from initial expectations, and we cannot guarantee that any project will be completed on time or within established budgets.

Risks associated with or faced by our suppliers could adversely affect our financial performance.

We source our merchandise from a wide variety of domestic and international suppliers, and we depend on them to supply merchandise in a timely and efficient manner and in the large volumes that we may require. In 2023, our two largest suppliers accounted for approximately 10% and 8% respectively, of our purchases. If one or more of our current sources of supply became unavailable, we believe we generally would be able to obtain alternative sources, but it could increase our merchandise costs and supply chain lead time and expenses, result in a temporary reduction in store inventory levels, and reduce the selection and quality of our merchandise. An inability to obtain alternative sources could materially decrease our sales. Additionally, if a supplier fails to deliver on its commitments, we could experience merchandise out-of-stocks that could lead to lost sales and reputational harm. Further, failure of suppliers to meet our compliance protocols could prolong our procurement lead time, resulting in lost sales and adverse margin impact.

We directly imported approximately 4% of our purchases (measured at cost) in 2023, but many of our domestic vendors directly import their products or components of their products. Changes to the prices and flow of these goods often are for reasons beyond our control, such as political or civil unrest, acts of war, disruptive global political events (for example, political tensions involving China, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East), currency fluctuations, disruptions in maritime lanes, port labor disputes, economic conditions and instability in countries in which foreign suppliers are located, the financial instability of suppliers, suppliers’ failure to meet our terms and conditions or our standards, issues with our suppliers’ labor practices or labor problems they may experience (such as strikes, stoppages or slowdowns, which could also increase labor costs during and following the disruption), the availability and cost of raw materials, pandemic outbreaks, merchandise quality or safety issues, transport availability and cost, increases in wage rates and taxes, transport security, inflation, and other factors relating to suppliers and the countries in which they are located or from which they import. Such changes could adversely affect our operations and profitability.

While we are working to diversify our sources of imported goods to include Southeast Asia, India, South America and Mexico, a substantial amount of our imported merchandise comes from China, and thus, a change in the Chinese leadership, the effects of pandemic outbreaks, economic and market conditions, internal economic stimulus actions, or currency or other policies, as well as trade and other relations between China and the United States and increases in costs of labor, could negatively impact our merchandise costs. In addition, the United States’ foreign trade policies, duties (which increased on certain products imported from China and Southeast Asian countries in 2023), tariffs and other impositions on imported goods, trade sanctions imposed on certain countries (particularly China) and entities, import limitations on certain types of goods or of goods containing certain materials from other countries and other factors relating to foreign trade and port labor agreements are beyond our control. These and other factors affecting our suppliers and our access to products could adversely affect our business and financial performance. If we increase our product imports from foreign vendors, the risks associated with these imports also will increase, and we may be exposed to additional or different risks as we increase imports of goods produced in countries other than China.

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Natural disasters and unusual or extreme weather conditions (whether or not caused by climate change), pandemic outbreaks or other health crises, political or civil unrest, acts of war, violence or terrorism, and disruptive global political events could disrupt business and result in lower sales and/or profitability and otherwise adversely affect our financial performance.

The occurrence of one or more natural disasters, such as hurricanes, fires, floods, tornadoes and earthquakes, unusual or extreme weather conditions, pandemic outbreaks or other health crises (for example, the COVID-19 pandemic), political or civil unrest, acts of war, violence or terrorism (including within our stores, distribution centers or other Company property), or disruptive global political events (for example, the political tensions involving China, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East) or similar disruptions could adversely affect our business, financial performance and reputation. If any of these events result in the closure, or a limitation on operating hours, of one or more of our distribution centers, a significant number of stores, our sourcing offices, our corporate headquarters or data center or impact one or more of our key suppliers, our operations and financial performance could be materially and adversely affected through an inability or reduced ability to make deliveries, process payroll or provide other support functions to our stores and through lost sales. These events also could affect consumer shopping patterns or prevent customers from reaching our stores, which could lead to lost sales and higher markdowns, or result in increases in fuel or other energy prices, fuel shortage(s), new store or distribution center opening delays, the temporary lack of an adequate work force in a market, the temporary or long-term disruption of product availability in our stores, the temporary or long-term inability to obtain or access technology needed to effectively run our business, disruption of our utility services or information systems, and damage to our reputation. These events may also increase the costs of insurance if they result in significant loss of property or other insurable damage or loss by us or in the market more generally.

Furthermore, the long-term impacts of global climate change present the possibility of both physical risks (such as extreme weather conditions or rising sea levels) and transition risks (such as regulatory or technology changes), which may be widespread and unpredictable. Over time, these changes, as well as regulatory efforts related thereto, could affect, for example, the availability and cost of products, commodities and energy (including utilities), which in turn may impact our ability to procure goods and services required for the operation of our businesses at the quantities and levels and at the costs we require. In addition, our operations and facilities may be located in areas impacted by the physical risks of climate change, and we face the risk of losses incurred as a result of physical damage to stores, distribution centers, or our corporate offices, as well as loss or spoilage of inventory and business interruption caused by such events. We also use natural gas, diesel fuel, gasoline and electricity in our operations, all of which could face increased regulation relating to climate change or other environmental concerns. Regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions and energy inputs may also increase in coming years, which may increase our costs associated with compliance and merchandise purchases. These events and their impacts could otherwise disrupt and adversely affect our operations and could materially adversely affect our financial performance.

Product liability, product recall or other product safety or labeling claims could adversely affect our business, reputation and financial performance.

We depend on our vendors to ensure that the products we buy from them comply with applicable product safety and labeling laws and regulations and to inform us of all applicable restrictions on the sale of such products. Nonetheless, product liability, personal injury or other claims may be asserted against us relating to alleged product contamination, tampering, expiration, mislabeling, recall and other safety or labeling issues, including those relating to products that we may self-distribute through our DG Fresh initiative.

We seek but may not be successful in obtaining contractual indemnification and insurance coverage for product-related claims and issues from our vendors. If we do not have adequate contractual indemnification or insurance available, or our vendors fail to adhere to their obligations to us, such claims could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our ability to obtain indemnification from foreign vendors may be hindered by our ability to obtain jurisdiction over them to enforce contractual obligations. Even with adequate insurance and indemnification, such claims could significantly harm our reputation and consumer confidence in our products, and we could incur significant litigation expenses, which also could

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materially affect our results of operations even if a product liability claim is unsuccessful or not fully pursued, as well as lost sales during the period of time between recall and backfilling the recalled product.

Our current insurance program may expose us to unexpected costs and negatively affect our financial performance.

Our insurance coverage reflects deductibles, self-insured retentions, limits of liability and similar provisions that we believe are prudent based on our operations. However, there are types of losses we may incur but against which we cannot be insured or which we believe are not economically reasonable to insure, such as losses due to acts of war, certain crimes (including employee crime), certain wage and hour and other employment-related claims and litigation, actions based on certain consumer protection laws, and some natural and other disasters (including, without limitation, fires and floods) or similar events. If we incur material uninsured losses, our financial performance could be negatively impacted. Certain material events have resulted, and may result again in the future, in sizable losses for the insurance industry and adversely affect the availability of adequate insurance coverage or result in excessive premium increases. To offset negative insurance market trends, we may elect to self-insure, accept higher deductibles or reduce the amount of coverage. In addition, we self-insure a significant portion of expected losses under our workers’ compensation, auto liability, general liability (including claims made against certain of our landlords), property loss, and group health insurance programs. Significant changes in actuarial assumptions and management estimates underlying our recorded liabilities for these losses, including any expected increases in medical and indemnity costs, could result in materially different expenses than expected under these programs, which could materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. Although we maintain property insurance to cover insurable losses resulting from, for example, fires and storms, at our store support center and distribution centers, we are effectively self-insured for other property losses. If we experience a greater number of these self-insured losses than we anticipate, our financial performance could be adversely affected.

Failure to attract, develop and retain qualified employees while controlling labor costs, as well as other labor issues, including employee safety issues, could adversely affect our financial performance.

Our future growth and performance, positive customer experience and legal and regulatory compliance depends on our ability to attract, develop, retain and motivate qualified employees while operating in an industry that has historically been challenged by high rates of employee turnover. Our ability to meet our labor needs, while controlling our labor costs, is subject to many external factors, including competition for and availability of qualified personnel, unemployment levels, wage rates and salary levels (including the heightened possibility of increased federal and further increased state and/or local minimum wage rates/salary levels), health and other insurance costs, changes in employment and labor laws or other workplace regulations (including those relating to employee benefit programs such as health insurance and paid leave programs), employee activism, employee safety issues, employee expectations and productivity, and our reputation and relevance within the labor market. If we are unable to attract, develop and retain adequate numbers of qualified employees, our operations, customer service levels, legal and regulatory compliance, and support functions could suffer. In addition, to the extent a significant portion of our employee base unionizes, or attempts to unionize, our labor and other costs could increase, and it is possible that federal agencies may adopt or impose regulatory or other changes to existing law that could facilitate union organizing or otherwise restrict employer actions. Further, anticipated regulatory changes relating to the overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (in particular, the executive/managerial exemption) could result in increased labor costs to our business and negatively affect our operating results if changes to our business operations are required. Our ability to pass along labor and other related costs to our customers is constrained by our everyday low-price model, and we may not be able to offset such increased costs elsewhere in our business.

Our success depends on our executive officers and other key personnel. If we lose key personnel or are unable to hire additional qualified personnel, our business may be harmed.

Our future success depends to a significant degree on the skills, experience and efforts of our executive officers and other key personnel. The unexpected loss of the services of any of such persons could adversely affect our operations. In addition, our executive succession planning, retention and hiring efforts, and ability to successfully execute management transitions within our senior leadership are critical to our business success.

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Competition for skilled and experienced management personnel is intense, and a failure to attract and retain new qualified personnel or our inability to enforce non-compete agreements that we have in place with our management personnel could adversely affect our operations.

Our private brands may not be successful in improving our gross profit rate at our expected levels and may increase certain of the risks we face.

The sale of private brand items is an important component of our sales growth and gross profit rate enhancement plans. Broad market acceptance of our private brands depends on many factors, including pricing, quality, customer perception, and timely development and introduction of new products. We cannot give assurance that we will achieve or maintain our expected level of private brand sales. The sale and expansion of these offerings also subjects us to or increases certain risks, such as: product liability claims and product recalls; disruptions in raw material and finished product supply and distribution chains; inability to successfully protect our proprietary rights; claims related to the proprietary rights of third parties; supplier labor and human rights issues, and other risks generally encountered by entities that source, sell and market exclusive branded offerings for retail. Failure to appropriately address these risks could materially and adversely affect our private brand initiatives, reputation, results of operations and financial condition.

Failure to protect our reputation could adversely affect our business.

Our success depends in part on the protection of the reputation of Dollar General and the products and services we sell, including our private brands. Failure to comply or accusation of failure to comply, even if unfounded, with ethical, social, product, labor, data privacy, consumer protection, safety, environmental and other applicable standards could jeopardize our reputation and potentially lead to various adverse consumer, shareholder or non-governmental organization (NGO) actions, workforce unrest or walkouts, litigation and governmental investigations and/or require a costly response. In addition, our responses to crises and our position or perceived lack of position on certain issues (e.g., public policy, social, or environmental issues), and any perceived lack of transparency about such matters, could harm our reputation and potentially lead to adverse consumer, shareholder or NGO actions, including negative public statements. Similar incidents or factors involving vendors, partners and other third parties with whom we conduct business also may affect our reputation. Media reports and public comments made by anyone, including without limitation current and former employees and customers, on any media platform (including, without limitation, social media or news media), whether or not they are accurate, have the potential to influence, and in some instances, have influenced, certain negative perceptions of Dollar General and there can be no assurance that we will be able to prevent such reports or comments in the future. Any failure, or perceived failure, to meet any of our published ESG-related aspirations or goals, which often may be outside of our control, could adversely affect public perception of our business, employee morale or customer or shareholder support. Negative reputational incidents could adversely affect our business through declines in customer loyalty, lost sales, loss of new store and development opportunities, or employee retention and recruiting difficulties.

Because our business is somewhat seasonal, adverse events during the fourth quarter could materially affect our financial statements as a whole.

Primarily because of sales of Christmas-related merchandise, our most profitable sales mix generally occurs in the fourth quarter. In anticipation of this holiday, we purchase substantial amounts of seasonal inventory, and if sales fall below seasonal norms or our expectations, it could result in unanticipated markdowns. Adverse events, such as deteriorating or challenging economic conditions, high unemployment rates, high gas or energy prices, transportation disruptions, or unusual or unanticipated adverse weather could result in lower-than-planned sales during the Christmas selling season, which in turn could reduce our profitability and otherwise adversely affect our financial performance and operating results.

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Regulatory, Legal, Compliance and Accounting Risks

A significant change in governmental regulations and requirements could materially increase our cost of doing business, and noncompliance with governmental laws or regulations could materially and adversely affect our financial performance.

We routinely incur significant costs in complying with numerous and frequently changing laws and regulations. The complexity of this regulatory environment and related compliance costs continue to increase due to additional legal and regulatory requirements, our expanding operations, and increased regulatory scrutiny and enforcement efforts. New or revised laws, regulations, orders, policies and related interpretations and enforcement practices, particularly those dealing with the sale of products, including without limitation, product and food safety, marketing, labeling or pricing; information security and privacy; labor and employment; employee wages, salary levels and benefits; health and safety; real property; public accommodations; imports and customs; transportation; intellectual property; taxes; bribery and anti-corruption; climate change; and environmental compliance, may significantly increase our expenses or require extensive system and operating changes that could materially increase our cost of doing business. In 2023, we invested approximately $150 million in retail labor, primarily through labor hours, to further enhance our store standards, including on-shelf availability, and our compliance efforts as well as the customer and employee experience in our stores. Further, anticipated regulatory changes relating to the overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (in particular, the executive/managerial exemption) could result in increased labor costs to our business and negatively affect our operating results if changes to our business operations are required. Violations of applicable laws and regulations or untimely or incomplete execution of a required product recall can result in significant penalties (including loss of licenses, eligibility to accept certain government benefits such as SNAP or significant fines), class action or other litigation, governmental investigation or action and reputational damage. Additionally, changes in tax laws (including those related to the federal, state or foreign corporate tax rate), the interpretation of existing laws, or our failure to sustain our reporting positions on examination could adversely affect our overall effective tax rate. Furthermore, significant and/or rapid increases to federal and further increases to state and/or local minimum wage rates/salary levels could adversely affect our earnings if we are not able to otherwise offset these increased labor costs elsewhere in our business. Moreover, the adoption of new environmental laws and regulations in connection with climate change and the transition to a low carbon economy, including any federal or state laws enacted to regulate greenhouse gas emissions or require public disclosures related thereto (including the recently adopted SEC rules requiring certain disclosures relating to climate change), could significantly increase our operating or merchandise costs or reduce the demand for our products. These laws and regulations may include, but are not limited to, requirements relating to hazardous waste materials, recycling and recycled/recyclable product content, single-use plastics, extended producer responsibility, use of refrigerants, carbon pricing or carbon taxes, product energy efficiency standards and product labeling. If carbon pricing requirements or carbon taxes are adopted, there is a significant risk that the cost of merchandise from our suppliers will increase and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Legal proceedings may adversely affect our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our business is subject to the risk of litigation or other legal proceedings by employees, consumers, suppliers, competitors, shareholders, unions, government agencies and others through private actions, class actions, multi-district litigation, arbitrations, derivative actions, administrative proceedings, regulatory actions or other litigation. For example, we are involved in certain legal proceedings as discussed in Note 7 to the consolidated financial statements. The outcome of legal proceedings, particularly class action or multi-district litigation or mass arbitrations and regulatory actions, can be difficult to assess or quantify. Plaintiffs in these types of lawsuits may seek recovery of very large or indeterminate amounts, and the magnitude of the potential loss may remain unknown for lengthy periods. In addition, certain of these matters, if decided adversely to us or settled by us and not covered by insurance, may result in liability material to our financial statements as a whole or may negatively affect our operating results if changes to our business operations are required, and sometimes these developments are unanticipated. Legal proceedings in general, and class actions, derivative actions, mass arbitrations, multi-district litigation, and governmental investigations and actions in particular, can be expensive and disruptive, and adverse

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publicity could harm our reputation, regardless of the validity of the allegations. As a result, legal proceedings may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. See also Note 7 to the consolidated financial statements.

New accounting guidance or changes in the interpretation or application of existing accounting guidance could adversely affect our financial performance.

The implementation of new accounting standards could require certain systems, internal process and controls and other changes that could increase our operating costs and result in changes to our financial statements.

U.S. generally accepted accounting principles and related accounting pronouncements, implementation guidelines and interpretations with regard to a wide range of matters that are relevant to our business involve many subjective assumptions, estimates and judgments by our management. Changes in these rules or their interpretation or in underlying management assumptions, estimates or judgments could significantly change our reported or expected financial performance. The outcome of such changes could include litigation or regulatory actions which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

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(“CISO”), who has approximately 30 years of experience in the information technology field with approximately 25 years of full cybersecurity focus and approximately 20 years as a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), has responsibility for assessing and managing our information security program and related risks, which includes information security incident prevention, detection, mitigation and remediation, and leading a department of information security professionals with relevant industry and professional experience. Our CISO reports directly to our Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer (“CIO”), who has approximately 25 years of experience in the information technology field that includes direct interaction with or supervision of cybersecurity functions.

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We also maintain a third-party security risk management program to identify, oversee, prioritize, assess, and mitigate third party risks; however, we rely on our third-party partners to implement effective information security programs commensurate with the risk associated with the nature of their business relationships to us and cannot ensure in all circumstances their efforts will be successful. We and our third-party partners have experienced threats to, and incidents involving, data and systems, including by perpetrators of attempted random or targeted malicious attacks; computer malware, ransomware, bots, or other destructive or disruptive hardware and/or software; and attempts to misappropriate our and our customers’ information and cause system failures and disruptions, although to date none have been material to our business. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors” for additional information regarding cybersecurity-related risks that could impact our business.

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The Audit Committee of our Board of Directors oversees our cybersecurity risks through various means, including but not limited to its oversight of our enterprise risk management program. In connection with its oversight of this program, our Audit Committee discusses with management the process by which risk assessment and risk management is undertaken and our major financial and other risk exposures, including without limitation those relating to our information systems, information security, data privacy, business continuity, and third-party information security, and the steps management has taken to monitor and control such exposures. Our Audit Committee reviews enterprise risk evaluation results at least annually and high residual risk categories, along with their mitigation strategies, quarterly.

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In addition to consideration as part of the enterprise risk management program, cybersecurity risk is further evaluated through various internal and external audits and assessments designed to validate the effectiveness of our controls for managing the security of our information assets, and management develops action plans to address select identified opportunities for improvement. Additionally, our Audit Committee quarterly reviews reports and metrics, including a dashboard, pertaining to cybersecurity risks and prevention, detection, mitigation and remediation efforts with our CIO and CISO to help our Audit Committee understand and evaluate current risks, monitor trends, and track our progress against specific metrics. Our Audit Committee also has the responsibility to review with management and our outside auditor any unauthorized access to information technology systems that could have a material effect on our financial statements. Further, our Audit Committee receives quarterly updates regarding our business continuity and IT disaster recovery plan, as well as cybersecurity incidents which occurred during the prior quarter.

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Our Audit Committee also has undertaken cybersecurity education in recent years to assist members in overseeing related risks. Such activities included a cyber threat intelligence update focusing on the global impact of ransomware on the retail sector and trends in retail sector compromises; the state of cybersecurity regulation; an overview of methods to perform cyber risk quantification; an update on the evolving retail landscape’s impact on cyber risk to retail organizations; and an overview of Company-specific cyber-related risks considerations.

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Ms. Reardon has served as Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer since August 2020. She joined Dollar General as Director, Human Resources in September 2009 and was promoted to Vice President, Talent Management in October 2012. She became Vice President, Retail Human Resources in October 2014 and was promoted to Senior Vice President, Human Resources in March 2019 and to Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer in May 2019. Prior to joining Dollar General, Ms. Reardon held several positions of increasing responsibility at Centex from August 2005 until September 2009, serving as Director of Human Resources from October 2007 until September 2009. Since beginning her career in May 1998, Ms. Reardon also held various roles with Carrier Corporation, including Manager of Human Resources from August 2003 until August 2005, and was also a Career Consultant at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia, from August 2001 until August 2003.

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Ms. E. Taylor has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer since September 2020. She joined Dollar General in 1998 and held roles of increasing responsibility in investor relations, financial planning and analysis, merchandise planning, pricing and merchandising operations prior to her promotion to Vice President, Pricing & Merchandise Data Optimization in March 2011. She served as Vice President, Merchandising Operations (March 2012 to April 2014) and was subsequently promoted to Senior Vice President, General Merchandise Manager in April 2014. She most recently served as Senior Vice President, Channel Innovation (September 2019 to September 2020).

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Ms. R. Taylor has served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel since March 2015.  She joined Dollar General as an Employment Attorney in March 2000 and was subsequently promoted to Senior Employment Attorney in 2001, Deputy General Counsel in 2004, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel in March 2010, and Senior Vice President and General Counsel in June 2013.  Prior to joining Dollar General, she practiced law with Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., where her practice was focused on labor law and employment litigation. She has also held attorney positions with Ford & Harrison LLP. 

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Mr. Wenkoff has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer since July 2017.  He previously served as the Chief Information Officer (May 2012 to June 2017) and Chief Digital Officer (June 2016 to June 2017) of Franchise World Headquarters, LLC (“Subway”), a restaurant chain, where he was responsible for global technology and digital strategy, execution and operations for the Subway brand and all of its restaurants. He owned a Subway franchise from July 2015 until October 2017. He also previously served as Chairman of the Board and Co-President of Retail Gift Card Association (February 2008 to May 2012); Deputy Chief Information Officer for Independent Purchase Cooperative, Inc. (May 2005 to May 2012) and President of its subsidiary, Value Pay Services LLC (May 2005 to February 2011); founder and President of Stored Value Management, Inc. (January 2004 to May 2005); and Vice President, Operations and Finance, and General Counsel of Ontain Corporation (January 2000 to December 2004).  Mr. Wenkoff began his career in 1993 as an articled student, and then attorney with Douglas Symes & Brissenden and served in various legal positions, including General Counsel, with Pivotal Corporation from 1997 to 2000.

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Mr. West has served as Executive Vice President, Global Supply Chain, since September 2023. He has approximately 18 years of employment experience with Dollar General, including Senior Vice President, Distribution (March 2021 to August 2023); Vice President, Perishable Growth and Development (January 2018 to March 2021); and Vice President, Process Improvement (August 2005 to January 2018). Prior to joining Dollar General, Mr. West was a consultant with Kurt Salmon Associates from July 1994 to August 2005.

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Ms. Elliott has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer since December 2015.  She joined Dollar General as Senior Vice President and Controller in August 2005. Prior to joining Dollar General, she served as Vice President and Controller of Big Lots, Inc. from May 2001 to August 2005, where she was responsible for accounting operations, financial reporting and internal audit. Prior to serving at Big Lots, she served as Vice President and Controller for Jitney-Jungle Stores of America, Inc. from April 1998 to March 2001, where she was responsible for the accounting operations and the internal and external financial reporting functions. Prior to serving at Jitney-Jungle, she practiced public accounting for 12 years, 6 of which were with Ernst & Young LLP.

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Involvement in Legal Proceedings. Ms. Dilts served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Francesca’s Holdings Corporation until July 2019. On December 3, 2020, Francesca’s Holdings Corporation filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. The Chapter 11 Plan of Liquidation was confirmed on July 20, 2021.

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highs. Certain of our initiatives are intended to address this sales mix trend; however, there can be no assurances that these efforts will be successful.

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As we work to provide everyday low prices and meet our customers’ affordability needs, we remain focused on enhancing our margins through inventory shrink and damage reduction initiatives, as well as pricing and markdown optimization, effective category management and inventory reduction efforts, distribution and transportation efficiencies, private brands penetration and global sourcing. Several of our strategic and other sales-driving initiatives are also designed to capture growth opportunities and are discussed in more detail below.

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We experienced higher damages in the first half of 2023, as well as significantly higher shrink throughout 2023. We believe that our shrink results in 2023 were due to a number of factors, including materially higher inventory levels in the first half of the year, store standards and other operational challenges such as self-checkout and store manager turnover, as well as the macroeconomic environment. As of fiscal year-end, and discussed further below, we have materially reduced inventory levels. To address challenges presented by self-checkout as well as to enhance the overall customer and associate experience in our stores, we are revising our self-checkout strategy, including limiting self-checkout to transactions of five items or fewer, converting some or all self-checkout registers in approximately 9,000 stores to assisted checkout options, and removing self-checkout from approximately 300 stores. As discussed further below, we also have invested in retail labor to help drive improved store standards and have plans in place to improve store manager turnover rates.

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We continue to implement and invest in certain strategic initiatives that we believe will help drive profitable sales growth with both new and existing customers and capture long-term growth opportunities. Such opportunities include providing our customers with a variety of shopping access points and even greater value and convenience by leveraging and developing digital tools and technology, such as our Dollar General app, which contains a variety of tools to enhance the in-store shopping experience. Additionally, our partnership with a third-party delivery service is available in the majority of our stores, and we continue to grow our DG Media Network, which is our platform for connecting brand partners with our customers to drive even greater value for each.

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Further, we are continuing to evaluate and evolve the pOpshelf concept, including expanding at a more measured pace in the softer discretionary sales environment, as well as converting some locations to Dollar General store locations. pOpshelf is a unique retail concept focused on categories such as seasonal and home décor, health and beauty, home cleaning supplies, and party and entertainment goods. At the end of 2023, we operated 216 standalone pOpshelf locations.

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Our “DG Fresh” initiative, a self-distribution model for frozen and refrigerated products that is designed to reduce product costs, enhance item assortment, improve our in-stock position, and enhance sales, has positively contributed to our sales and gross margin performance since we completed the initial rollout in 2021. Moving forward, we plan to focus on additional optimization of the distribution footprint and product assortment within DG Fresh with the goal to further drive profitable sales growth.

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We also remain focused on capturing growth opportunities. In 2023, we opened a total of 987 new stores, including our first three stores in Mexico, remodeled 2,007 stores, and relocated 129 stores. In fiscal 2024, we plan to open approximately 800 new stores (including any new pOpshelf stores or stores in Mexico), remodel approximately 1,500 stores, and relocate approximately 85 stores, for a total of 2,385 real estate projects.

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We expect store format innovation to allow us to capture additional growth opportunities within our existing markets as we continue to utilize the most productive of our various Dollar General store formats based on the specific market opportunity. We are using two larger format stores (approximately 8,500 square feet and 9,500 square feet, respectively), and consistent with 2023, expect the 8,500 square foot format, along with our existing Dollar General Plus format of a similar size, to continue as our base prototypes for the majority of new stores in 2024, replacing our traditional 7,300 square foot format and higher-cooler count Dollar General Traditional Plus format. The larger formats allow for expanded high-capacity-cooler counts, an extended queue line, and a broader product assortment, including an enhanced non-consumable offering, a larger health and beauty section, and produce in select stores.

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We have established a position as a low-cost operator, always seeking ways to reduce or control costs that do not affect our customers’ shopping experiences. We plan to continue enhancing this position over time while employing ongoing cost discipline to reduce certain expenses as a percentage of sales. Nonetheless, we seek to maintain flexibility to invest in the business as necessary to enhance our long-term competitiveness and profitability. From time to time, our strategic initiatives, including without limitation those discussed above, have required and may continue to require us to incur upfront expenses for which there may not be an immediate return in terms of sales or enhanced profitability.

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To further optimize our cost structure and facilitate greater operational control within our supply chain, we further expanded our private fleet in 2023 from 1,600 tractors at the end of fiscal 2022 to more than 2,000 tractors at the end of 2023, representing the majority of all outbound trucks delivering from our distribution centers.

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Certain of our operating expenses, such as wage rates and occupancy costs, have continued to increase in recent years, due primarily to market forces such as labor availability, increases in minimum wage rates and increases in property rents and interest rates. Further, significant and/or rapid increases to federal and further increases to state and/or local minimum wage rates/salary levels could adversely affect our earnings if we are not able to otherwise offset these increased labor costs elsewhere in our business. Furthermore, in 2023 we invested approximately $150 million in retail labor, primarily through labor hours, to further enhance our store standards, including on-shelf availability, and compliance efforts as well as the customer and associate experience in our stores.

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In addition to the labor investment in 2023, we took additional actions to support our customers, stores and distribution centers. Most significantly, we accelerated the pace of our inventory reduction efforts, including additional promotional markdowns, in an effort to return to more optimal inventory levels sooner than we believed the current pace would deliver. These investments in retail labor, markdowns, and other areas, had a materially negative impact on our operating profit in 2023.

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While we believe the overall growth rate of inflation has moderated, we expect some inflationary pressures will continue to affect our operating results and our vendors and customers. Moreover, increases in market interest rates have had, and will likely continue to have, a negative impact on our interest expense, both with respect to issuances of commercial paper notes, if any, and other indebtedness. Further, both inflation and higher interest rates have significantly increased new store opening costs and occupancy costs, and while we continue to have strong new store returns and grow our store base significantly in 2024, these increased costs have negatively impacted our projected new store returns and influenced our 2024 new store growth plans.

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Our diverse teams are a competitive advantage, and we proactively seek ways to continue investing in their development. Our goal is to create an environment that attracts, develops, and retains talented personnel, particularly at the store manager level, because employees who are promoted from within our company generally have longer tenures and are greater contributors to improvements in our financial performance. We are taking actions designed to reduce our store manager turnover, which was higher than targeted in 2023, including through our labor investment and allocation of labor hours, simplifying in-store activities, and reducing excess inventory.

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To further enhance shareholder returns, we have continued to pay quarterly cash dividends. The declaration and amount of future dividends are subject to Board discretion and approval, although we currently expect to continue paying quarterly cash dividends. As planned, to preserve our investment grade credit rating and maintain financial flexibility, we did not repurchase any shares during 2023 under our share repurchase program and do not plan to repurchase shares during 2024. The repurchase authorization has no expiration date, and future repurchases will depend on a variety of factors, including price, market conditions, compliance with the covenants and restrictions under our debt agreements, cash requirements, excess debt capacity, results of operations, financial condition and other factors.

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We utilize key performance indicators, which are defined below, in the management of our business including same-store sales, average sales per square foot, and inventory turnover. We use these measures to maximize profitability and for decisions about the allocation of resources. Each of these measures is commonly used by investors in retail companies to measure the health of the business.

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Same-store sales. Same-store sales are calculated based upon our stores that were open at least 13 full fiscal months and remain open at the end of the reporting period. We include stores that have been remodeled, expanded or relocated in our same-store sales calculation. Changes in same-store sales are calculated based on the comparable 52 calendar weeks in the current and prior years. The method of calculating same-store sales varies across the retail industry. As a result, our calculation of same-store sales is not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

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Average sales per square foot. Average sales per square foot is calculated based on total sales for the preceding 12 months as of the ending date of the reporting period divided by the average selling square footage during the period, including the end of the fiscal year, the beginning of the fiscal year, and the end of each of our three interim fiscal quarters.

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Inventory turnover. Inventory turnover is calculated based on total cost of goods sold for the preceding four quarters divided by the average inventory balance as of the ending date of the reporting period, including the end of the fiscal year, the beginning of the fiscal year, and the end of each of our three interim fiscal quarters.

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A continued focus on our four operating priorities as discussed above, and other impacts as discussed below, resulted in the following overall operating and financial performance in 2023 as compared to 2022. Basis points, as referred to below, are equal to 0.01% as a percentage of net sales.

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Readers should refer to the detailed discussion of our operating results below for additional comments on financial performance in the current year as compared with the prior years presented.

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The net sales increase in 2022 was primarily due to sales from new stores, and an increase in same-store sales of 4.3% compared to 2021, partially offset by the impact of store closures. The increase in same-store sales reflects an increase in average transaction amount which was driven by higher average item retail prices as a result of higher inflation, partially offset by a decline in customer traffic. Same-store sales increased in the consumables category, and declined in the apparel, seasonal, and home products categories. In 2022, our 17,886 same-stores accounted for sales of $35.3 billion.

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Gross Profit. In 2023, gross profit decreased by 0.9%, and as a percentage of net sales decreased by 94 basis points to 30.3% compared to 2022, primarily driven by increased shrink and inventory markdowns, lower inventory markups, a higher proportion of lower margin consumables sales, and increased damages. Partially offsetting the factors which decreased our overall gross profit rate were a lower LIFO provision and decreased transportation costs.

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In 2022, gross profit increased by 9.3%, and as a percentage of net sales decreased by 37 basis points to 31.2% compared to 2021. A greater LIFO provision which was driven by higher product costs, a higher proportion of lower margin consumables sales, and increases in inventory markdowns, damages and shrink each contributed to the decrease in the gross profit rate. These factors were partially offset by higher inventory markups and improvements in transportation costs.

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SG&A. SG&A as a percentage of net sales was 24.0% in 2023 compared to 22.4% in 2022, an increase of 153 basis points. The primary expenses that were higher as a percentage of net sales in 2023 were retail labor, store occupancy costs, depreciation and amortization, repairs and maintenance, and other services purchased, including debt and credit card transaction fees, which were partially offset by a decrease in incentive compensation.

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SG&A as a percentage of net sales was 22.4% in 2022 compared to 22.2% in 2021, an increase of 25 basis points. The primary expenses that were higher as a percentage of net sales in 2022 were utilities, retail labor, and repairs and maintenance, partially offset by incentive compensation expenses and store occupancy costs.

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Interest Expense. Interest expense increased $115.5 million to $326.8 million in 2023 compared to 2022 and increased $53.7 million to $211.3 million in 2022 compared to 2021, in each case primarily due to higher outstanding borrowings and higher interest rates. See the detailed discussion under “Liquidity and Capital Resources” regarding the financing of various long-term obligations.

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Income Taxes. The effective income tax rate for 2023 was 21.6% compared to a rate of 22.5% for 2022 which represents a net decrease of 0.9 percentage points. The effective tax rate was lower in 2023 primarily due to the effect of certain rate-impacting items (such as federal tax credits) on lower earnings before taxes and a lower state effective rate resulting from increased recognition of state tax credits.

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The effective income tax rate for 2022 was 22.5% compared to a rate of 21.7% for 2021 which represents a net increase of 0.8 percentage points. The effective income tax rate was higher in 2022 primarily due to decreased income tax benefits associated with stock-based compensation compared to 2021.

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Effects of Inflation

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In 2023, we experienced moderate increases in product costs due to lower rates of inflation. In addition, we continued to experience elevated but relatively stable costs of building materials and certain of our other capital costs. In 2022, we experienced higher rates of inflation affecting product costs, the costs of building materials and certain of our other capital costs. In 2021, we experienced increases in product costs due in part to higher rates of inflation.

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maximum leverage ratio for the four quarters of fiscal 2024. The credit agreement governing the Revolving Facility also contains customary events of default.

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As of February 2, 2024, we had no outstanding borrowings, no outstanding letters of credit, and borrowing availability of $2.0 billion under the Revolving Facility that, due to our intention to maintain borrowing availability related to the commercial paper program described below, could contribute liquidity of $1.8 billion. In addition, we had outstanding letters of credit of $45.9 million which were issued pursuant to separate agreements.

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364-Day Revolving Facility

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The Company had a 364-day $750 million unsecured revolving credit facility (the “364-Day Revolving Facility”) which expired on January 30, 2024. Borrowings under the 364-Day Revolving Facility bore interest at a rate equal to an applicable interest rate margin plus, at the Company’s option, either (a) Adjusted Term SOFR (which is Term SOFR, as published by CME Group Benchmark Administration Limited, plus a credit spread adjustment of 0.10%) or (b) a base rate (which is usually equal to the prime rate). The Company was also required to pay a facility fee to the lenders under the 364-Day Revolving Facility for any used and unused commitments. Prior to its expiration, the applicable interest rate margin for Adjusted Term SOFR loans was 1.035% and the facility fee rate was 0.09%. The applicable interest rate margins for borrowings and the facility fees under the 364-Day Revolving Facility were subject to adjustment from time to time based on the Company’s long-term senior unsecured debt ratings.

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Commercial Paper

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We may issue the CP Notes from time to time in an aggregate amount not to exceed $2.0 billion outstanding at any time. The CP Notes may have maturities of up to 364 days from the date of issue and rank equal in right of payment with all of our other unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness. We intend to maintain available commitments under the Revolving Facility in an amount at least equal to the amount of CP Notes outstanding at any time. As of February 2, 2024, our consolidated balance sheet reflected no outstanding unsecured CP Notes. CP Notes totaling $197.7 million were held by a wholly-owned subsidiary and therefore are not reflected in the consolidated balance sheets.

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The table above is comprised of what is collectively referred to as the Senior Notes, each of which were issued pursuant to an indenture as supplemented and amended by supplemental indentures relating to each series of Senior Notes (as so supplemented and amended, the “Senior Indenture”).

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We may redeem some or all of the Senior Notes at any time at redemption prices set forth in the Senior Indenture. Upon the occurrence of a change of control triggering event, which is defined in the Senior Indenture, each holder of our Senior Notes has the right to require us to repurchase some or all of such holder’s Senior Notes at a purchase price in cash equal to 101% of the principal amount thereof, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but excluding, the repurchase date.

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The Senior Indenture contains covenants limiting, among other things, our ability (subject to certain exceptions) to consolidate, merge, or sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets; and our ability and the ability of our subsidiaries to incur or guarantee indebtedness secured by liens on any shares of voting stock of significant subsidiaries.

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The Senior Indenture also provides for events of default which, if any of them occurs, would permit or require the principal of and accrued interest on our Senior Notes to become or to be declared due and payable, as applicable.

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Rating Agencies

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Our senior unsecured debt is rated “Baa2,” by Moody’s with a stable outlook and “BBB” by Standard & Poor’s with a negative outlook, and our commercial paper program is rated “P-2” by Moody’s and “A-2” by Standard and Poor’s. Our current credit ratings, as well as future rating agency actions, could (i) impact our ability to finance our operations on satisfactory terms; (ii) affect our financing costs; and (iii) affect our insurance premiums and collateral requirements necessary for our self-insured programs. There can be no assurance that we will maintain or improve our current credit ratings.

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Share Repurchase Program

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Our common stock repurchase program had a total remaining authorization of approximately $1.38 billion at February 2, 2024. The authorization allows repurchases from time to time in open market transactions, including pursuant to trading plans adopted in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or in privately negotiated transactions. The timing, manner and number of shares repurchased will depend on a variety of factors, including price, market conditions, compliance with the covenants and restrictions under our debt agreements, cash requirements, excess debt capacity, results of operations, financial condition and other factors. The repurchase program has no expiration date and may be modified or terminated from time to time at the discretion of our Board of Directors. To preserve our investment grade credit rating and maintain financial flexibility, we do not plan to repurchase shares during fiscal 2024. For more detail about our share repurchase program, see Part II, Item 5 of this report and Note 11 to the consolidated financial statements contained in Part II, Item 8 of this report.

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Other Considerations

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In March 2024, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.59 per share which is payable on or before April 23, 2024 to shareholders of record of our common stock on April 9, 2024. We paid quarterly cash dividends of $0.59 per share in 2023. Although the Board currently expects to continue regular quarterly cash dividends, the declaration and amount of future cash dividends are subject to the Board’s sole discretion and will depend upon, among other factors, our results of operations, cash requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions, excess debt capacity and other factors that our Board may deem relevant in its sole discretion.

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Our inventory balance represented approximately 49% of our total assets exclusive of operating lease assets, goodwill, and other intangible assets as of February 2, 2024. Our ability to effectively manage our inventory balances can have a significant impact on our cash flows from operations during a given fiscal year as discussed further below. Inventory purchases are often somewhat seasonal in nature, such as the purchase of warm-weather or Christmas-related merchandise. Efficient management of our inventory has been and continues to be an area of focus for us.

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As described in Note 7 to the consolidated financial statements, we are involved in a number of legal actions and claims, some of which could potentially result in material cash payments. Adverse developments in those actions could materially and adversely affect our liquidity.

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Cash Flows

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Cash flows from operating activities. Cash flows from operating activities were $2.4 billion in 2023, which represents a $407.2 million increase compared to 2022. Changes in merchandise inventories resulted in a $299.1 million decrease in our working capital in 2023 compared to the decrease of $1.7 billion in 2022 as described in greater detail below. Changes in accounts payable resulted in a $36.9 million increase in our working capital in 2023 compared to a $194.7 million decrease in 2022, due primarily to the timing of inventory receipts and related payments. Net income decreased to $1.7 billion in 2023 as compared to $2.4 billion in 2022. Changes in other noncash losses resulted in a $89.0 million increase as compared to a $530.5 million increase in 2022 primarily due to a lower LIFO provision in 2023. Changes in income taxes including a decrease in cash paid for income taxes in 2023 compared to 2022 are primarily due to the decrease in pre-tax earnings in 2023.

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Cash flows from operating activities were $1.98 billion in 2022, which represents a $881.3 million decrease compared to 2021. Changes in merchandise inventories resulted in a $1.7 billion decrease in our working capital in 2022 compared to the decrease of $550.1 million in 2021 as described in greater detail below. Changes in other noncash losses resulted in a $530.5 million increase as compared to a $191.0 million increase in 2021 primarily due to an increase in the LIFO provision. Changes in accounts payable resulted in a $194.7 million decrease in our working capital in 2022 compared to a $98.7 million increase in 2021, due primarily to the timing of inventory receipts and related payments. Changes in accrued expenses resulted in a $25.4 million decrease in our working capital in 2022 compared to a $37.3 million decrease in 2021, due primarily to the timing of accruals and payments for freight, payroll taxes and incentive compensation. Changes in income taxes in 2022 compared to 2021 are primarily due to the timing of payments for income taxes.

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On an ongoing basis, we closely monitor and manage our inventory balances, and they may fluctuate from period to period based on new store openings, the timing of purchases, and other factors. Merchandise inventories increased by 3% in 2023, 20% in 2022 and 7% in 2021. The increase in the 2023 period primarily reflects an increase in the consumables category due mostly to a lower than planned level of consumables at the end of 2022 and initiatives to improve on-shelf availability. Offsetting the inventory increase in consumables were decreases in the seasonal, home products, and apparel categories primarily due to our inventory reduction efforts.

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Inventory levels in the consumables category increased by $744.5 million, or 20%, in 2023, increased by $367.8 million, or 11%, in 2022, and decreased by $1.8 million, or 0% in 2021. The seasonal category decreased by $207.1 million, or 13%, in 2023, increased by $455.5 million, or 42%, in 2022, and increased by $177.8 million, or 20%, in 2021. The home products category decreased by $291.3 million, or 28%, in 2023, increased by $315.4 million, or 43%, in 2022, and increased by $230.0 million, or 45%, in 2021. The apparel category decreased by $12.6 million, or 4%, in 2023, increased by $7.8 million, or 2%, in 2022, and decreased by $39.2 million, or 10%, in 2021.

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Cash flows from investing activities. Significant components of property and equipment purchases in 2023 included the following approximate amounts: $683 million for improvements, upgrades, remodels and relocations of existing stores; $542 million for distribution and transportation-related capital expenditures; $390 million related to store facilities, primarily for leasehold improvements, fixtures and equipment in new stores; and $67 million for information systems upgrades and technology-related projects. The timing of new, remodeled and relocated store openings along with other factors may affect the relationship between such openings and the related property and equipment purchases in any given period. During 2023, we opened 987 new stores and remodeled or relocated 2,136 stores.

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Significant components of property and equipment purchases in 2022 included the following approximate amounts: $589 million for improvements, upgrades, remodels and relocations of existing stores; $443 million for distribution and transportation-related capital expenditures; $373 million related to store facilities, primarily for leasehold improvements, fixtures and equipment in new stores; and $62 million for information systems upgrades and technology-related projects. The timing of new, remodeled and relocated store openings along with other factors may affect the relationship between such openings and the related property and equipment purchases in any given period. During 2022, we opened 1,039 new stores and remodeled or relocated 1,922 stores.

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Significant components of property and equipment purchases in 2021 included the following approximate amounts: $510 million for improvements, upgrades, remodels and relocations of existing stores; $268 million for distribution and transportation-related capital expenditures; $244 million related to store facilities, primarily for leasehold improvements, fixtures and equipment in new stores; and $44 million for information systems upgrades and technology-related projects. During 2021, we opened 1,050 new stores and remodeled or relocated 1,852 stores.

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Capital expenditures during 2024 are projected to be in the range of $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion. We anticipate funding 2024 capital requirements with a combination of some or all of the following: existing cash balances, cash flows from operations, availability under our Revolving Facility and/or the issuance of additional CP Notes. We plan to continue to invest in store growth and development of approximately 800 new stores and approximately 1,585 stores to be remodeled or relocated. Capital expenditures in 2024 are anticipated to support our store growth as well as our remodel and relocation initiatives, including capital outlays for leasehold improvements, fixtures and equipment; the construction of new stores; costs to support and enhance our supply chain initiatives including new and existing distribution center facilities and replacement of certain transportation related assets; technology initiatives; as well as routine and ongoing capital requirements.

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Cash flows from financing activities. During the 2023 period we received proceeds from the issuance of long-term debt of $1.5 billion. Net commercial paper borrowings decreased by $1.5 billion, and we received and repaid $500.0 million under the 364-Day Revolving Facility. We paid cash dividends of $518.0 million and did not repurchase shares of our common stock.

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In 2022, we received proceeds from the issuance of long-term debt of $2.3 billion, and our repayments of long-term debt totaled $911.3 million. Net commercial paper borrowings increased by $1.4 billion, and we had no borrowings or repayments under the Revolving Facility or the 364-Day Revolving Facility. We repurchased 11.6 million shares of our common stock at a total cost of $2.7 billion and paid cash dividends of $493.7 million.

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In 2021, net commercial paper borrowings increased by $54.3 million. and we had no borrowings or repayments under the Revolving Facility. We repurchased 12.1 million shares of our common stock at a total cost of $2.5 billion and paid cash dividends of $392.2 million.

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Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

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The preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts and related disclosures. In addition to the estimates presented below, there are other items within our financial statements that require estimation but are not deemed critical as defined below. We believe these estimates are reasonable and appropriate. However, if actual experience differs from the assumptions and other considerations used, the resulting changes could have a material effect on the financial statements taken as a whole.

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Management believes the following policies and estimates are critical because they involve significant judgments, assumptions, and estimates. Management has discussed the development and selection of the critical accounting estimates with the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors, and the Audit Committee has reviewed the disclosures presented below relating to those policies and estimates. See Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements for a detailed discussion of our principal accounting policies.

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Merchandise Inventories. Merchandise inventories are stated at the lower of cost or market (“LCM”) with cost determined using the retail last in, first out (“LIFO”) method. We use the retail inventory method (“RIM”) to calculate gross profit and the resulting valuation of inventories at cost, which are computed utilizing a calculated cost-to-retail inventory ratio to the retail value of sales at an inventory department level. We apply the RIM to these departments, which are groups of products that are fairly uniform in terms of cost, selling price relationship and turnover. The RIM will result in valuing inventories at LCM if permanent markdowns are currently taken as a reduction of the retail value of inventories. Inherent in the RIM calculation are certain management judgments and estimates that may impact the ending inventory valuation at cost, as well as the gross profit recognized. These judgments include ensuring departments consist of similar products, recording estimated shrinkage between physical inventories, and timely recording of markdowns needed to sell inventory.

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We perform an annual LIFO analysis whereby all merchandise units are considered for inclusion in the index formulation. An actual valuation of inventory under the LIFO method is made at the end of each year based on the inventory levels and costs at that time. In contrast, interim LIFO calculations are based on management’s annual estimates of sales, the rate of inflation or deflation, and year-end inventory levels. We also perform analyses for determining obsolete inventory, adjusting inventory on a quarterly basis to an LCM value based on various management assumptions including estimated below cost markdowns not yet recorded, but required to liquidate such inventory in future periods.

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Factors considered in the determination of markdowns include current and anticipated demand based on changes in competitors’ practices, consumer preferences, consumer spending, significant weather events and unseasonable weather patterns. Certain of these factors are outside of our control and may result in greater than estimated markdowns to entice consumer purchases of excess inventory. The amount and timing of markdowns may vary significantly from year to year.

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We perform physical inventories in a significant majority of our stores on an annual basis. We calculate our shrink provision based on actual physical inventory results during the fiscal period and an accrual for estimated shrink occurring subsequent to a physical inventory through the end of the fiscal reporting period. This accrual is calculated as a percentage of sales at each retail store, at a department level, based on the store’s most recent historical shrink rate. From time to time as circumstances may warrant, we consider more recent shrink experience in the calculation of our shrink accrual. The impact of doing so has not been material. To the extent that subsequent physical inventories yield different results than the estimated accrual, our effective shrink rate for a given reporting period will include the impact of adjusting to the actual results.

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We believe our estimates and assumptions related to the application of the RIM results in a merchandise inventory valuation that reasonably approximates cost on a consistent basis.

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Impairment of Long-lived Assets. Impairment of long-lived assets results when the carrying value of the assets exceeds the estimated undiscounted future cash flows generated by the assets. Our estimate of undiscounted future store cash flows is based upon historical operations of the stores and estimates of future profitability which encompasses many factors that are subject to variability and are difficult to predict. If our estimates of future cash flows are not materially accurate, our impairment analysis could be impacted accordingly. If a long-lived asset is found to be impaired, the amount recognized for impairment is equal to the difference between the carrying value and the asset’s estimated fair value. The fair value is estimated based primarily upon projected future cash flows (discounted at our credit adjusted risk-free rate) or other reasonable estimates of fair market value. Although not currently anticipated, changes in these estimates, assumptions or projections could materially affect the determination of fair value or impairment.

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Insurance Liabilities. We retain a significant portion of the risk for our workers’ compensation, employee health, general liability, property loss, auto liability and certain third-party landlord claim exposures. These represent significant costs primarily due to our large employee base and number of stores. Provisions are made for these liabilities on an undiscounted basis. Certain of these liabilities are based on actual claim data and estimates of incurred but not reported claims developed using actuarial methodologies based on historical claim trends, which have been and are anticipated to continue to be materially accurate. If future claim trends deviate from recent historical patterns, or other unanticipated events affect the number and significance of future claims, we may be required to record additional expenses or expense reductions, which could be material to our future financial results.

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Contingent Liabilities – Income Taxes. Income tax reserves are determined using the methodology established by accounting standards relating to uncertainty in income taxes. These standards require companies to assess each income tax position taken using a two-step process. A determination is first made as to whether it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained, based upon the technical merits, upon examination by the taxing authorities. If the tax position is expected to meet the more likely than not criteria, the benefit recorded for the tax position equals the largest amount that is greater than 50% likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement of the respective tax position. Uncertain tax positions require determinations and liabilities to be estimated based on

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provisions of the tax law which may be subject to change or varying interpretation. If our determinations and estimates prove to be inaccurate, the resulting adjustments could be material to our future financial results.

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Lease Accounting. Lease liabilities are recorded at a discount based upon our estimated collateralized incremental borrowing rate which involves significant judgments and estimates. Factors incorporated into the calculation of lease discount rates include the valuations and yields of our senior notes, their credit spread over comparable U.S. Treasury rates, and an index of the credit spreads for all North American investment grade companies by rating. To determine an indicative secured rate, we use the estimated credit spread improvement that would result from an upgrade of one ratings classification by tenor. Many of our 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. We record single lease expense on a straight-line basis over the lease term including any option periods that are reasonably certain to be renewed, commencing on the date that we take physical possession of the property from the landlord. Tenant allowances, to the extent received, are recorded as a reduction of the right of use asset. Improvements of leased properties are amortized over the shorter of the life of the applicable lease term or the estimated useful life of the asset.

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Share-Based Payments. Our stock option awards are valued on an individual grant basis using the Black-Scholes-Merton closed form option pricing model. We believe that this model fairly estimates the value of our stock option awards. The application of this valuation model involves assumptions that are judgmental in the valuation of stock options, which affects compensation expense related to these options. These assumptions include the term that the options are expected to be outstanding, the historical volatility of our stock price, applicable interest rates and the dividend yield of our stock. Other factors involving judgments that affect the expensing of share-based payments include estimated forfeiture rates of share-based awards. Historically, these estimates have been materially accurate; however, if our estimates differ materially from actual experience, we may be required to record additional expense or reductions of expense, which could be material to our future financial results.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

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Financial Risk Management

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We are exposed to market risk primarily from adverse changes in interest rates and commodity prices. To minimize this risk, we may periodically use financial instruments, including derivatives. All derivative financial instrument transactions must be authorized and executed pursuant to approval by the Board of Directors. As a matter of policy, we do not buy or sell financial instruments for speculative or trading purposes, and any such derivative financial instruments are intended to be used to reduce risk by hedging an underlying economic exposure. Our objective is to correlate derivative financial instruments and the underlying exposure being hedged, so that fluctuations in the value of the financial instruments are generally offset by reciprocal changes in the value of the underlying economic exposure.

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Interest Rate Risk

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We are exposed to changes in interest rates as a result of our short-term borrowings and long-term debt. We manage our interest rate risk through the strategic use of fixed and variable interest rate debt and, from time to time, derivative financial instruments. Currently, we are counterparty to certain interest rate swaps with a total notional amount of $350.0 million entered into in May 2021. These swaps are scheduled to mature in April 2030. Under the terms of these agreements, we swap fixed interest rates on a portion of our 2030 Senior Notes for compounded SOFR rates. In recent years, our principal interest rate exposure has been from outstanding borrowings under our Revolving Facility as well as our commercial paper program. As of February 2, 2024, we had no consolidated commercial paper borrowings and no borrowings outstanding under our Revolving Facility. For a detailed discussion of our Revolving Facility and our commercial paper program, see Note 5 to the consolidated financial statements.

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A change in interest rates on variable rate debt impacts our pre-tax earnings and cash flows; whereas a change in interest rates on fixed rate debt impacts the economic fair value of debt but not our pre-tax earnings and cash flows.

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At February 2, 2024, our primary interest rate exposure was from changes in interest rates which affect our variable rate debt. Based on our outstanding variable rate debt as of February 2, 2024, after giving consideration to our interest rate swap agreements, the annualized effect of a one percentage point increase in variable interest rates would have resulted in a pretax reduction of our earnings and cash flows of approximately $3.5 million in 2023.

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At February 3, 2023, our primary interest rate exposure was from changes in interest rates which affect our variable rate debt. Based on our outstanding variable rate debt as of February 3, 2023, after giving consideration to our interest rate swap agreements, the annualized effect of a one percentage point increase in variable interest rates would have resulted in a pretax reduction of our earnings and cash flows of approximately $18.5 million in 2022.

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audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosure to which it relates.

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We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2001.

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Nashville, Tennessee

March 25, 2024

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The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

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