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Dollar General Store Planned For Highway 29 At Highway 196
May 6, 2022
Another Dollar General is planned for North Escambia at the corner of Highway 29 and Highway 196 near Molino.
Zoning for the 1.5 acre parcel already allowed retail development of up to 6,000 square feet. The Escambia County Board of Adjustment has now approved retail space up to 15,000 square feet on the property, with the one condition that the building must have a wood-look on the outside.
Developers want to build a 10,640 square foot Dollar General. Driveway access to the store will be off Highway 196, not Highway 29.
About a half dozen area residents spoke against the variance. Most cited traffic concerns about the intersection, including several fatal accidents that have occurred. They also expressed that the store is not needed due to the proximity of other Dollar Generals on Highway 29, including at Molino Road 2.5 miles to the north and Neal Road four miles to the south.
The project must go through several additional steps before construction could begin, including consideration by the Escambia County Development Review Committee.
Comments
50 Responses to “Dollar General Store Planned For Highway 29 At Highway 196”
Just pickup your trash everyday cut your grass everyweek ! Weed eat around bldg.Go look at 29 and Neal DG looks abandoned. 297A and Kings field look behind store.Snake heaven! We need to keep Cantonment Beautiful.Need more pride Dollar General.Quit being cheap and hire a good landscape crew for your stores.I haven’t mention store at pine forest and 297A trash everywhere. Make your manager have someone make a parking lot check for trash everyday.
I’m a homeowner in Molino and I think the amount of dollar generals on 29 is ridiculous. By all means I hate driving to cantonment or Pensacola to do all of my shopping, but i rather do that then have a store pop up that only sells the basic necessities. Nobody does their shopping at the Dollar General; you go to Winn Dixie or Walmart.
CONTEMPLATING:
“Capitalism sucks!”
Possibly.
No other system is as responsive to the desires and needs of the people, though.
David for better
No need in me adding my disappointment about another DG, all of you have voiced exactly what I would have said. There is one thing I will add if not said already, the DG in Molino is now closing at 4 due to the fact of being understaffed. So I would like them to explain how building another one down the road will help when the one we have can’t stay open pass 4.
Seems a major problem on N&S hey 29 is no sewers available. When/if ECUA puts them-in then we’ll see a Boom in Business’s along that stretch.
We only need one store that has only one department.
A whine and complain department.
Done!
I agree with Laura, we need a diner.
The present eatery was once a nice country diner, but the current owner has attempted to turn it into a tourist trap. No southern feel; anymore.
@ken and Becca
We pass these stores everyday, like ugly weeds they keep popping up and their fronts are ALWAYS cluttered with junky merchandise SEEN from the streets. check them out
I’d like to see one of these stores stay open past 9pm! If we had so many cant 1 stay open 24/7?
We need a supercenter Walmart. And yes indeed a restaurant would be awesome.
I would really like a grocery store up in Molino.
This is too funny no one wants a DG.
But can tell you exactly where they all are.
Frequent shopping there comes to mind.
Too funny
@ Resident..good lordy, you are a sour gussie .Smile at life once, it will not hurt you.
I promise!
I agree. I live on new 9 Mile road drag racing strip (new name for it now since the road is completed) and I travel 29 up going to 65 on trips. The residents in that area are right. DG adding another store is not needed. They need real grocery stores, ER facilities like was built around Pensacola the last few years, gas stations, restaurants, etc. Steve Berry and other county leaders need to get on this and listen to your voters!
I am a homeowner who lives off 196. I have a vested interest in this area. I love the outskirts living that I have enjoyed in this area for the past 12 years. I do feel those who chose to live out here do so for a reason and are willing to go the extra distance to town to get what they need.
In sharing that, I do feel that growth can be healthy and exciting but slow and appropriate growth that makes sense is vital to the community, and for the reason that I feel DG is not a good choice. I am very concerned about their corporate business plan. Although I have no direct knowledge of their plan, based on the knowledge I have observed and speaking to employees that they have a very comprehensive business growth department but fall way short in managing the individual operation of stores. Keeping inventory available is non-existent and more importantly, the appropriate training and employee management are inadequate at best. I would like to see Publix, Aldi, or a restaurant like Cheddars, Texas Roadhouse
More low paying jobs, more congestion! Capitalism sucks!
What we need in this area is a grocery store or a restaurant. I myself would like a grocery store. Come on Walmart get land to build a grocery store . I would surely shop there.
and furthermore. DG at Neal Rd is a 65MPH SPEED ZONE and DG lost an employee at the intersection from a car wreck. This intersection is 65MPH in the country with 75MPH speeders ALWAYS.
Three within eight miles and they need another one? These stores are NOT cheaper. They are convenient with flimsy merchandise at a higher price. Compare and see. They can’t stay clean either. I guess rats need homes too.
Dollar generals and walmarts. Sounds like you want to really drive down tour property values. Every dollar generated in Escambia county will go right back out of the county and line some billionaires tables with whale foreskins. We need to bar these mega companies from coming and stealing what wealth there is in the area. Walmart and dollar general equals junk food cheap slave labor made clothing. Some integrity on your part makes life better. Stop selling out to corporate America!
HOW MANY dollar generals does hwy 29 need?????? how about a grocery store-a walmart food-a decent restaurant – ALL DG’s end up looking like trash
I thought you guys were free market people??? If they want to build a business why are you oppossed? If it’s a bad idea let the business suffer the losses. Private business is none of your business. The government should stop them?? I’m just pointing out your hypocrisy.
No, just no! It’s not needed and as stated before, it’s an already dangerous intersection!
Anyone with the coins can purchase the property and put what they want there.
@ Not HaHa Funny – These two sentences…..
Zoning for the 1.5 acre parcel already allowed retail development of up to 6,000 square feet. The Escambia County Board of Adjustment has now approved retail space up to 15,000 square feet on the property, with the one condition that the building must have a wood-look on the outside.
The Escambia County Board of Adjustment changed it so now they get to put a cheap, crappy store that no one wants there. Biggest issue though is people say they don’t want the stores but then they keep patronizing them.
An Aldi or Neighborhood Walmart would be better for the community.
@ Carol: Did you leave the word “not” out of your first sentence?
In 2021 there was a small sign posted there on hwy 29 that was for Sonny Bar B Que was going to put a store here, i was really excited and thinking that would be great and a good place to eat.
I live 1 and a half miles from this intersection since 1982.
Cantonment dollar General is 6.2 miles to hwy 196 & hwy 29
and 10.6 miles to the Dollar General store at the Molino crossroads.
3 stores on the same road 10 miles a part in the country, this must be an incredible need for these stores……….lol
The Sonny Bar B Que would be a better choice for everyone i would think, a gas station, a Hardees or some fast food place would be way better than Dollar General.
Put a Waffle House there with a chaper gas station on one side either on Hwy 29 or one end of Hwy 97. I think this would be better. The restaurant down the road stays packed with customers or it seems that way.
Planned? I thought they just popped up over night.
What the world needs now another place to Rob at gunpoint.
Funny how folks think they should be able to decide what a land owner builds on their own property. Buy the land then you decide what can or cannot be built.
I am in agreement that Escambia county does not need or desire any more Dollar General stores. There are more than enough already. The big one recently built in Ensley is a great example of the over abundance of the stores. I pass by it every day of the week and I have never seen more than three cars in their parking lot. Another example is the new one at 297A and Kingsfield. I live near the proposed location on US29 and 196, and another Dollar General there is going to one big eyesore.
We do we need one at this location when we already have one just up the road on 29 right past Molino Rd…Now I could understand if the one we already have was planning on moving locations but 2 within a very close proximity is a little moot if you ask me.
I’m with everyone else with we don’t need another DG. Everyone that I have stopped at from the two in Cantonment to Molino all tells me that they are being cut back on hours and the shelves are empty. Almost everytime you go in one you might have two employees working and new faces working. The turn over means that people can’t live on the pay that DG either pays or hours that they allow the employees work. What’s going happen is that DG is building all these stores and then in a couple of years they will start shutting them down. I with they would have someone build a grocery store or somewhere else to eat or heck a gas station.
Life keeps getting better and better and better and better and…
I think it’s a great idea. Probably should build two. Put them across 29 from each other. That way one wouldn’t need to cross traffic to get to it. You gotta be careful with those fabulous turn lanes they put there. Safety first!
There needs to be a plan to build a Walmart in Century so the community doesn’t have to go 20-30 minutes to Ensley and waste gas going back.
No more junk dollar general stores. Run them out of town. The county of getting plenty of revenue elsewhere with all of this construction. We don’t need anymore raggedy dollar stores
Would rather have a CVS. But would more like a traffic light, turn lanes on 196 and proper road maintenance first. It is obvious that our county leadership do not listen to their constituents. Nobody wants another DG there.
JUST; NO ! ! ! ! ! Ridiculous. How about NOTHING built there. Too dangerous. How’s about a good place to eat in Molino at another location. This intersection has had way too many terrible accidents. This is a VERY BAD IDEA ! ! !
Anything BUT a dollar general would have been great. There goes the neighborhood.
Can we get a real grocery store out this way instead of Dollar General who are notorious for understaffing and low wages for their employees? We need a grocery store or a restaurant or anything but another Dollar General.
The new one in Jay is almost finished. There’s not a farmer in Jay with a barn as ugly as this thing is. The only difference between the old store and the new bigger store is the new one will have twice as many empty shelves.
Why not something useful like a Waffle House?
How many DG stores do we need? Molino already has one.
How many dollar generals are going to be built off highway 29?
I think its a great idea to put a dollar general there. And then after that they need to put a Red Light up on that corner. That is a bad corner for accidents so a red light is a must.
What a joke. It was restricted to 6000 square foot building because of the lot size. What are the rules for when the county can change to double the size. Septic tank on this location is the head waters to Jack Branch creek. My compaint at meeting. 4″ water main cannot have a fire hydrant and the hydrants on this main CANNOT BE USED by state law. Look at the ugly dollar store at Kingfield and 97 …. WHAT AN EYESORE
I am 100% against this location going in. This will affect the amount of litter thrown out by the stores customers that I will have to clean up. It will also effect the traffic at this corner to a dangerous level. As stated we have locations at Molino Rd,Neal Rd, Muscogee Rd and 97, Old Tate School Rd by Winn Dixie one at Kingsfield and 297 and yes the Brand new one just South of Roberts Rd on 29. These locations are becoming a nuisance and eye soar. The next Hugh concerns we should have are what is going to happen when they start closing the smaller locations. Now we will have an abandoned building that will fall to disrepair. Homeless people will start squatting in them and as they fall into disrepair and become what major cities call them dark Property or blighted properties they become a safety hazard. Living here in Molino I know I might have to travel to purchase what I need. Another term for this is market saturation. Once the market is saturated we will have locations closing because they cannot draw enough income to pay for themselves. The developers want to use 196 for the entrance to avoid an FDOT review of traffic because 196 falls under the county where 29 falls under state control. This is shady business practice. I was at the meeting and only 1 board member voted against the rest of board was just a rubber stamp. What a Joke. What even scared me worse was the fact the man leading the board didn’t even know it was April he seemed to lack a full mental capacity (Alzheimer’s or Dementia). If this is the type of people running the county we should be worried. If you don’t believe me read the minutes from the recorder he was corrected several of times by other board members.
This is nonsense. This space should be used for something else that our community needs. We already have enough DG stores in this area. They can’t keep the one in Molino stocked now. Why would they build another store?