COLUMBUS, Ohio – Several Dollar General stores in Ohio temporarily closed Friday, a development Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is claiming as a small victory in his ongoing deceptive pricing lawsuit against the budget retailer.
In November, Yost filed lawsuits against Dollar General and its competitor Family Dollar. He alleged both companies have been charging higher prices at the register than is marked on shelves.
Yost said on social media Friday that the Dollar General locations “are shutting down to re-tag all their shelf prices – exactly the reason we sued them.”
But the company, in a statement, said the stores closed to “address an overnight systems error” that has since been resolved. The statement said the stores have since re-opened. The retailer did not respond when asked how many stores closed or whether those closures are connected to the lawsuit.
Hannah Hundley, a Yost spokeswoman, said Dollar General closed “many” stores in Ohio Friday. While the company hasn’t filed anything publicly about the closures, she noted a hearing on Yost’s motion for a temporary restraining order against the company is scheduled for next week.
In the Dollar General case, Yost alleged violations of the state Consumer Sales Protection Act, including price misrepresentation and bait advertising. He requested the court order the company to stop the practice and pay a $25,000 fine for each violation.
In a request earlier this month for a preliminary injunction, he said his office has received more than 100 complaints against the store alleging deceptive pricing practices since he filed the lawsuit.
Attorneys for Dollar General have moved to dismiss that request and the case at large. They have said, among other defenses, that Yost has offered only allegations and no evidence to back them up.
They called the lawsuit “vague, ambiguous and devoid of any factual allegations.” Plus, they note that all stores plainly display the charged price of items at the cash register, which would “cure any prior incorrect shelf display price.”
Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to an attorney on the case.
The state of Vermont previously filed a lawsuit against Dollar General alleging similar claims. That resulted in a 2019 settlement of about $1.75 million, including $100,000 to a local food bank. State officials in North Carolina have also imposed fines on Dollar General for similar practices as well, as reported by The Charlotte Observer.
Former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, who now works as a plaintiff’s attorney in the private sector, has also lodged similar accusations against the company in four federal lawsuits in Ohio, Kentucky, New York, and New Jersey. He said he doesn’t know the reasoning behind the closures Friday, but he wrote to Dollar General attorneys asking that they preserve all documents related to the process of changing shelf pricing in Ohio, New Jersey, and New York.
Dollar General operates more than 900 stores around Ohio.
Jake Zuckerman covers state government and politics for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. Read more of his work here.
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