Dollar General suffers major boycott from customers | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Last year, Dollar General (DG) began to join a controversial workplace trend that has corporate America up in arms.

The discount retail chain fired its chief diversity officer at a time when large retailers such as Lowe’s, Tractor Supply, and Harley-Davidson were cutting their diversity, equity, and inclusion policies amid consumer boycott threats.

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Dollar General then quietly removed language from its 10-K filing in March that stated it was investing in its “diverse teams through development, empowerment and inclusion” as one of its “long-term operating priorities.”

The move from Dollar General came after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January dismantling the federal government’s DEI programs. In the executive order, he claimed that the programs enforce “illegal and immoral discrimination.”

Dollar General has a major problem on its hands

In response to Dollar General’s recent cuts to DEI, it is now facing a major boycott from consumers, which has started immediately.

The boycott is being organized by the Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, a pastor from Atlanta who organized a 40-day Target boycott earlier this year after the retailer scaled back several DEI initiatives.

He said that Dollar General “walked away from DEI and has said absolutely nothing,” according to a recent report from USA Today.

The Dollar General boycott will involve flooding the retail chain’s email and phone lines with requests to reinstate and strengthen its DEI initiatives. The protest will also be promoted through a widespread social media campaign.

Bryant specifically wants Dollar General to tackle systemic racism within its corporate culture, expand contracts to Black-owned vendors, and create a community reinvestment fund.

“Like other corporations, Dollar General has bowed to pressure from the Trump administration and rolled back their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives,” said Bryant in an interview with USA Today. “Dollar General also needs to be held accountable for failing to invest in the very Black and low-income communities that make up the backbone of their customer base. This isn’t just a corporate retreat − it’s a betrayal of the people they profit from.”

He said that he understands that not all consumers may be able to boycott the company’s physical stores due to the fact that Dollar General is present in rural communities that represent “food deserts.”

Target recently suffered similar fate as Dollar General

The Dollar General boycott follows Target’s similar experience — it suffered a significant drop in foot traffic shortly after it scaled back its DEI policies in January and faced boycotts as a result.

According to recent data from Placer.ai, foot traffic in Target stores started to decline during the week of Jan. 27, and the trend continued over the next two months.

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In February, foot traffic in Target stores shrank by 9% year-over-year. In March, Target’s foot traffic showed a slight improvement, but it still declined by 6.50%, compared to the same month last year.

When Bryant launched his 40-day boycott of Target in March, he claimed in an interview with CNN that the retailer “turned their back” on the Black community and that Black people deserve “some loyalty, some decency, and some camaraderie,” as they spend over $12 million a day.

Amid recent boycotts, Target revealed in its first-quarter earnings report for 2025 that its comparable store sales decreased by 3.8% year-over-year. Specifically, the number of transactions in stores dipped by 2.4%, while the average amount of money customers spent per transaction declined by roughly 1.4%.