Driving Hwy. 127 about a mile before coming in to the Jamestown Square you might have noticed a bustle of activity recently at the corner of Esto Road.

A major construction is taking place as Jamestown gets ready to welcome a Dollar General Market to town.

The new 20,700 square foot store is a major development for the city, offering shoppers a new option in grocery and mercantile purchasing.

Scheduled to open around the first week of February, the new store follows a concept developed by Dollar General to offer a full line of grocery items. They are scheduled to open 40 new locations for their DG Market in 2012.

The store is located almost directly across from the currently operating Dollar Store, which plans on closing in the coming weeks.

The new store will employ approximately 45 to 50 people, a large increase over the 10 employees staffing the current store.

It is reported that the store will be leased from Dollar General Corporation by Kentucky Lodging and Development.

Construction of the new retail outlet is through American Remodeling Construction Management Inc. out of Corbin.

A full acre of parking will accommodate over 100 vehicles.

The full line of groceries include an expanded cooler of either 14 or 16 units.

Construction is slated to be finished by January 19, allowing a couple of weeks for stocking and training.

“The exterior walls are up and the floors are all done,” said Randy Smith, construction manager on the project, “and we’re getting ready to start putting a roof on it.”

Dollar General has nearly 10,000 stores nationwide generating $13 billion in sales. They are the largest of the “small box” chain stores.

The new store will be nearly three times as large as the current store’s 7,200 square feet of space.

“We’re glad to have them,” said Ottis Skaggs, Public Works Director for Jamestown. “We are just thankful to them for picking Jamestown.”

Dollar General opened a new location at the corner of Hwy. 80 and Hwy. 1729, just across from the Royville Friendship Church on January 9, 2011. That 9,100 square foot store was in itself an improvement from their older model.

The 20,700 square foot store near the center of Jamestown will offer shopping abilities not available to the city in many years.

Anyone interested in applying for a job at Dollar General will find more information and a job application at www.dollargeneral.com in the Career Center or can visit any of the Dollar General store locations locally.