RIPON — Ripon’s Town Square Shopping Center has landed a major discount store as its anchor for its some 26,000-square-foot building, formerly the home of Mar Val Market that closed some 18 months ago.

A shopping center owner confirmed the signing of Dollar General Stores as a new tenant expecting to open for business in the first quarter of 2012 along with an estimated 40 to 50 stores planned for the Central Valley from Bakersfield to as far north as Stockton.

There are currently 9,372 stores throughout the nation in 35 states with 509 in Ohio and just over 1,000 in Texas.  The new locations will include two in Modesto, one in Merced and another in Oakley.

The Ripon store is expected to be part grocery store, clothing store and to stock hardware items as well.  Headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tenn., the Dollar General Corporation announced in December that it was preparing to revitalize and expand its DG Market format.  A major restoration of the Ripon building is expected to near $1 million.  

The California stores will reportedly be known as CALGENCA Limited Liability Corporation obviously abbreviating the business name with most of its stores in small to mid-sized communities.

Since the closing of the Mar Val Market and its subsequent effort to offer an outlet profile with warehouse pricing, the building has seen a “Taste of Christmas” wine tasting along with the Ripon Farmers’ Market locating in its parking lot.

Dollar Chief Executive Officer Rick Dreiling said in late 2010 that the market concept to its stores “can play an expanded role in the future of Dollar General.”

He added in a news story that his firm will open approximately 625 new stores and remodel or relocate approximately 550 stores in fiscal year 2011. The company is reportedly expanding into four states including Nevada, New Hampshire, Connecticut and California.

It was recently announced through an FEC filing that Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway owned nearly 1.5 million shares of Dollar General as of June 30 valued at some $51 million.

One of Dollar General’s chief competitors is Wal Mart stores along with Dollar Tree.  

Standard and Poor’s was quoted this week as saying the deep discounter Dollar General and its peers “are positioned for more market-share gains” as consumers become better at comparing prices and hunting for deals.

There is currently one vacant store in the center with one site being filled recently by a new yogurt shop.