Dollar General

This location is CLOSED. I was surprised to pull in yesterday to an empty building without notification as to where they moved to. I always found this store to be well stocked and with the items I needed. They had an excellent cleaning section that I will miss, as well as the best cards! I hope to find that they’ve relocated elsewhere in town and haven’t left Ames permanently for Ankeny.

I honestly try to avoid this Dollar General if possible. I’ll come here on occasions, but I really try to walk to this location when parked somewhere nearby. It’s within walking distance of the thrift store, Target, McDonalds, some gas stations, and other places.
I try to walk because the parking situation is a bit of a mess. The parking lot is on an upward slant which, besides being awkward, doesn’t have that much room to park. Not only that, but the entrance to their parking actually has a horrible «dip» to it to get back on the road, so it scrapes the bottom of my car on the road. Nope. Not ruining my car to go here.
Prices are kinda «meh». They aren’t a «dollar store» in the way that everything is a dollar. They do, however, price in dollar increments, so you don’t have to deal with $ 4.99 as a price tag. It’ll just be $ 5. That’s a nice feature. However, things seem to be a bit overpriced or on-​par with pricing at other stores. You’d think you’d get a good deal here, but unless you are buying off-​brand items, the brand name items cost just as much, if not more, to purchase here than to purchase at the nearby big box stores such as Target. Try to follow the sales at Dollar General if you want to actually get a good deal. Some of the weekly sales can be pretty decent.
The interior of the store is really what kills it. They just don’t have the space to have everything they have in here. I have never been in such tiny aisles. They are «one person only» type of aisles, and the carts barely fit in them. This leads to a very «crowded» feeling. It also makes it hard to find what you’re looking for since, unless you’re familiar with the store, the store layout doesn’t seemingly make sense. You go from outdoor to food to baby items to food storage containers. It just doesn’t make much sense, and the inability to really see «around» the aisles makes it harder to navigate.
The store also doesn’t have a «bright and open» feel to it. Because of the super-​tall aisles plus the older-​style building, it comes across as feeling more run-​down than a «pleasant shopping experience».
To give them credit, the employees here have always been really friendly. They have always been nearby-​ish at check-​out which makes it pretty fast to get in and get out with what I need. I’ve never had to wait in line here before, and there aren’t too many people that seem to shop here. The employees have always been knowledgeable about coupons and how to operate their registers. Plus, they’re usually pretty conversational.
Final thoughts: The location itself is what’s putting this Dollar General at the «only go if there are no other options available» level. The employees have been great. Unfortunately, the really-​closed-​off store layout partnered with the regularly Out of Stock spots and the horrible parking lot means that I really don’t go here unless I have no other options available. I’ve been to a lot of Dollar Generals, and this one just doesn’t have the love and care put into the location in order to really make it a nice place to shop.