Dollar General's 19,000 Stores Could Solve Rural America's Internet Problem

## 1. Executive Summary

The DG Edge Fabric proposes transforming selected Dollar General (DG) retail locations into secure, distributed edge computing nodes. By leveraging existing real estate and infrastructure, this model enables a scalable, low-latency compute network spanning rural and underserved regions across the United States. Each node integrates a sealed micro-data-center rack within a secure cage, delivering localized processing power for IoT, AI inference, and CDN caching. This approach reduces bandwidth dependency, minimizes latency, and opens new revenue opportunities for DG and partners.

*Visual:* U.S. map overlaying DG store density and proposed Gold Site distribution.

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## 2. Context and Problem

Traditional cloud infrastructure concentrates compute capacity in urban data centers, leaving rural regions underserved. The result is high latency, limited bandwidth, and exclusion from AI-driven economic growth. Building new rural data centers is capital-intensive and slow. However, Dollar General's footprint—over 19,000 stores—represents an unmatched, pre-built logistics and power grid across the country.

The challenge: how to convert selective DG locations into reliable micro-edge data hubs capable of delivering enterprise-grade uptime, environmental stability, and security at low operational cost.

*Visual:* Comparative maps—U.S. data centers vs. DG store distribution; optional “Before & After” visual highlighting the rural digital divide.

so much more but limited to 4000 characters