Dollar General to move into closing Latrobe video store

Dollar General is preparing for a move in Latrobe — one that will take it a block and a half from its current location on Ligonier Street to the building at Depot and Alexandria streets soon to be vacated by Family Video.

Spokeswoman Angela Petkovic said Dollar General plans to be open for business later this summer at 342 Depot St.

She didn’t discuss the specific factors that are prompting the move but said in an email that meeting customer needs is the top priority for the retail chain when it selects store locations.

“The company looks for places where we can offer customers an easy and convenient shopping choice,” Petkovic said. “We know convenience is a major factor in our customers’ shopping decisions as we generally serve customers within a 3- to 5-mile radius, or 10-minute drive. We also take demographic trends, competitive factors, traffic patterns and community concerns into consideration.”

George Mavrogenes, senior account executive in charge of leasing for Family Video, clarified that the video rental chain will be leasing, not selling, its Latrobe building to Dollar General. He said Dollar General is leasing the entire 7,000-square-foot building, including the video store and a smaller adjacent space that was occupied by the related Marco’s Pizza before the restaurant closed June 17.

At the same time, Family Video stopped offering video rentals at the Latrobe location and began a sale of its remaining titles there in preparation for closing the store by the end of June. Family Video continues to operate more than 700 stores in the United States and Canada, including one on South Main Street in Greensburg.

While the opportunity to lease the Latrobe building to Dollar General was advantageous for Family Video, Mavrogenes said the company is “looking for an alternative replacement in the market to try to reopen both businesses.

“As technology evolves, we’re doing the best we can to prolong the life of the video stores.”

The video-rental chain now sells cannabidiol (CBD) products derived from hemp that are touted as offering relief from conditions such as chronic pain without providing the “high” of marijuana.

According to Mavrogenes, staff at the closing Latrobe store are to be offered jobs at other company locations. “We’re not going to be terminating any jobs,” he said.

“Outplacement services” are to be provided to workers displaced by the Latrobe pizza shop closure, according to McLain Hoogland, who is director of operations at Highland Ventures Ltd. and oversees its brands, including Marco’s and Family Video.

Dollar General has operated a store since May 1991 in the L-shaped Ligonier Street building that has a second entrance on Main Street. The space previously was occupied by the G. C. Murphy variety store. Latrobe Billiards leases the basement level.

Austin Sheridan, founding partner of Ligonier Street building owner Belmont Howard Group, said the firm is searching for a “sustainable” replacement tenant for the 7,500-square-foot space Dollar General will be leaving while “looking at our options for making upgrades to the building. We are open to any and all ideas from the community and it’s stakeholders.

“We thank Dollar General for their commitment to this location for the last two years with us and the 26 years before that, but we are excited about the possibilities this location holds looking into the future. We hope to bring new life to this corner of Latrobe with something the city can build off of and grow from.”

City manager Michael Gray said he’s glad Dollar General plans to maintain a downtown store and hopes Marco’s can also find a new Latrobe location.

He said Latrobe officials want to work with Sheridan’s firm to help keep the Ligonier Street building occupied. “We’re going to assist people any way we can to make the transition,” Gray said.