They’re located in rural communities. 75% are in communities at 20,000 or less. And we prevent — we provide career growth opportunities that are unmatched in retail, which leads to our staffing levels being very robust, which we mentioned. And that gives us the opportunity because we’re in such a good position to invest in the hours. And so as we think about hours, we’re pleased at what we believe this will do to elevate our store standards and our consistency, which we believe the customer will benefit and the associate will benefit. And so as you — as we move throughout ’23, when you combine the improvements we’re making in our supply chain, which really gives us the timing to do this, and you combine that with the in-stock improvements, our customers will begin to see our standards improve, our on-shelf availability will improve, and we’ll be ready to serve that growing customer base that we’re really pleased that we’re seeing.
And so that’s what gives us the confidence in this. We feel this is the right level of investment. And the reason we feel that way is because we’ve been testing and learning this in 2022. You know Dollar General very well. We don’t do things just on a whim. We test and learn. We’ve been doing that in ’22. We liked what we saw. And we wanted to make sure our supply chain was in a position where we could take advantage of the ability to elevate the experience for the customer while we flow goods freely to the stores. And right now, we’re in a good position to do that as we enter ’23, and we’re excited about what this is going to do for the customer and ultimately, the return we’re going to see over time.
Operator: Our next question is from Matthew Boss with JPMorgan.
Matthew Boss: So Jeff, could you speak to recent behavior that you’re seeing from the low-income consumer? Or maybe any changes in the ranking of their priorities from those customer surveys that I know you run regularly? And then John, help us to think about the cadence of comps as we think about the year? Or just any color on the first quarter same-store sales? Or any comments on business to date just relative to that 3% to 3.5% full year forecast?
Jeffery Owen: Well, thanks, Matt. I’ll start, and then I’ll kick it over to John. As you think about the customer, one of the good things about Dollar General is we’re an all-weather brand. And we’ve shown over the last three decades how we can serve that customer in any economic environment. But what we’re seeing right now with our customer is the best news we have is that she’s still employed. And as we’ve talked about for many years, that is the single most important factor to her economic health. But we are certainly, as we talk to our customers, and as you know, Matt, we do this very, very frequently, and our digital capabilities allow us to do it in many different ways, which we’re pleased, we’re seeing that she’s worse off financially.
And it’s primarily due to food inflation. And obviously, as you think about how that changes her behaviors, one of the things we’re seeing is she’s relying more on savings, credit cards, and also borrowing money, quite frankly, from friends. And as that shows up in the store, what we’re seeing in the shopping behavior is that translates into our customer coming more often, she’s buying fewer items on occasion. And I got to tell you, one of the things we’re very, very pleased with is the fact that we are still leaning hard into our dollar price point. And we’re there for that customer. And as you saw in our prepared comments, that is resonating extremely well with her, as you saw from the comp sales we’re seeing in that category. But also, we’re seeing her lean into private brands, and we’re seeing her shift her purchases more to consumables.
