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Business Wire
30-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Dollar General Announces Call for Small Businesses
GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Dollar General announced a call for small businesses that seek to learn more about serving as a vendor or service provider for the Company. This call is open to companies that have not sold products to Dollar General within the past 18 months and desire to explore partnership opportunities with the Company, which operates more than 20,000 stores across the 48 continental United States. Applications will be available at from July 1-21, 2025. Virtual meetings with leaders in the DG Small Business Development (SBD) Program and merchandising teams are expected to begin in late August. Selected companies will be notified by email with the date and time of their meeting by August 1, 2025. 'We are committed to partnering with a growing network of vendors and suppliers from all backgrounds across the United States and beyond who support our efforts to provide our customers with the products they need and want at prices they can afford,' said Emily Taylor, Dollar General's executive vice president and chief merchandising officer. 'We look forward to exploring ways in which we can collaborate to serve the millions of Americans who rely on Dollar General every day." The 2025 call for small businesses event builds on a multi-year initiative designed to increase engagement with a variety of small businesses. Dollar General's Small Business Development Program provides certified vendors and suppliers with, among other things: the opportunity to learn and develop through the Company's SBD Academy; resources to support product discovery; access to services that provide funding, counseling and training; financial enablement programs; and various engagement events. Examples of DG's Partnership with Small Businesses The impact of DG's SBD Program is evident through the continued acceleration and success of small businesses including: Black Paper Party: A Black-owned and women-founded company born out of a love of Black culture, Black Paper Party's founders hope to increase access to products that uplift the Black family experience during holidays and celebrations and make special occasions inclusive for all. Kiss Products, Inc.: As a global leader in professional quality beauty products and treatments, Kiss Products was founded in 1989 by John Chang, Sung Yong Chang and Won Shik Kang who immigrated to New York from South Korea in 1978. As the recipient of DG's 2024 Small Business Supplier of the Year, Kiss products are available in DG stores throughout the country. Milo's Tea Company: Founded in 1946, Milo's Tea Company is a family-owned and certified women-owned business led by Tricia Wallwork, the granddaughter of the company's founders. Milo's tea and lemonade products are available at most DG stores across the country, and the company was awarded DG's Small Business Supplier of the Year award in 2023 and 2025. Learn more about how Dollar General supports small businesses here. About Dollar General Corporation Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) is proud to serve as America's neighborhood general store. Founded in 1939, Dollar General lives its mission of Serving Others every day by providing access to affordable products and services for its customers, career opportunities for its employees, and literacy and education support for its hometown communities. As of May 2, 2025, the Company's 20,582 Dollar General, DG Market, DGX and pOpshelf stores across the United States and Mi Súper Dollar General stores in Mexico provide everyday essentials including food, health and wellness products, cleaning and laundry supplies, self-care and beauty items, and seasonal décor from our high-quality private brands alongside many of the world's most trusted brands such as Coca Cola, PepsiCo/Frito-Lay, General Mills, Hershey, J.M. Smucker, Kraft, Mars, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble and Unilever.
New York Post
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
How 'Advantage Players' become winners in the casino and in life
Many casino gamblers expect to lose money. And they are rarely disappointed. But advantage players do the opposite. As detailed in my new book, 'Advantage Players' (Huntington Press), casino winners meticulously study the games, devise strategies, put up their money, play accurately, and go home with wallets fattened. The book takes a deep dive into the world of advantage players — people who play games advantageously. 'Advantage Players' delves into a secret society of professional gamblers who always aim to find an edge. Advertisement 12 Book author Michael Kaplan with magician David Blaine. Blaine is an advantage player when it comes to magic. Kaplan deployed advantage play thinking when it came to finding a treatment for his cancer. Tamara Beckwith/NY Post 12 A new book about the world of advantage play, in gambling and beyond. They do it through legal techniques that include card counting (tracking the dealt cards in a blackjack game to gauge the cards that remain), hole-carding (capitalizing on sloppy dealers who unwittingly reveal their hole cards) and shuffle tracking (following specific clumps of cards through shuffles, thereby knowing when they will be dealt). The most talented advantage players combine all three moves — or more. As one source, a veteran winner, gushingly told me, 'We out-house the house.' Advertisement Because casinos hate to lose and can kick out anyone for any reason, sometimes advantage players (or APs, as they like to be called) take extreme measures to stay in action. John Chang, a founding member of the famous MIT blackjack team, which was the subject of the movie '21,' told me about going far to keep from getting picked off by casino surveillance. 12 Kevin Spacey's character in the movie '21' was partly inspired by John Chang from the famous MIT card counting team. ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection Advertisement 12 MIT kids, in the movie '21' and in real life, were serious advantage players, according to reports. ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection He dressed up as a woman to hide his identity. Team members saw it as the only way to play without getting booted. 'Cross-dressing worked in the Bahamas and Illinois,' Chang said. 'But in Atlantic City, they looked at my hands. An Asian host whispered in my ear, 'We know who you are.' ' Security loomed and, as Chang rose to leave, a guard said, 'Lose the pearls, Esmeralda.' As Chang remembers it, 'I had to run around the casino in high heels and make sure they weren't following me.' Advertisement 12 Kelly 'Baccarat Machine' Sun alongside the actress Awkwafina, who is slated to play her in an upcoming movie. Courtesy of Kelly Sun More successful was his portrayal of the mega-rolling nephew of a Chinese computer mogul. Staffers at Caesars Palace were so impressed by Chang's 'lineage' that they let him log big wins on 11 straight occasions before cutting off his comps and play. Such is the life of a successful AP. Kelly 'Baccarat Machine' Sun and poker great Phil Ivey, both profiled in the book, teamed up to beat baccarat for tens of millions of dollars. 12 Woody Harrelson and the advantage playing gambler Don Johnson are seen living it up in the Hamptons. Getty Images for The Apollo 12 David Blaine uses advantage play thinking to be a better magician. Tamara Beckwith Sun trained her eyes to recognize minute inconsistencies on the backs of playing cards. After that spree, she pulled the ultimate advantage play: selling her life story to Hollywood. It is now being developed into a feature film set to star Awkwafina. Don Johnson (the gambler, not the actor) garnered headlines for being the biggest nightclub splurger in Las Vegas. But, he explained, that was a cover as he crushed high-stakes blackjack unhampered. Advertisement He worked with a crew of fellow APs who blended in with nightclub hangers-on and fed him information about upcoming cards while remaining unnoticed. 12 Stefan Simchowitz put an advantage-play move on the buying and selling of art. Courtesy of Stefan Simchowitz However, as is conveyed in the book, advantage players are not relegated strictly to gambling. Magician David Blaine, art dealer Stefan Simchowitz, smoked salmon slicer Silverio 'Jay' Benitez, and movie directors the Safdie Brothers all use advantage play techniques to find success in their professions. Advertisement The Safdies' AP move is to cast non-professional actors — such as retired NBA star Kevin Garnett and it-girl Julia Fox in the nerve-jangling 'Uncut Gems' — and get rave-worthy performances that ooze authenticity. 12 Benny and Josh Safdie are advantage playing movie directors, which is evident in their last movie, 'Uncut Gems.' Annie Wermiel/NY Post 12 Casting Julia Fox in 'Gems' was an advantage play on the part of the Safdie brothers, critics claimed. Courtesy Everett Collection 'We're not looking for actors who are responding to the back pages [of trade magazines],' Ben Safdie said. 'We're looking for people who are already playing the characters' lives. We transplant them into the films. I never understood doing it any other way.' Advertisement My own bit of advantage playing is laid out in the epilogue. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with stage-four Mantle Cell Lymphoma, a rare and incurable cancer. My original oncologist in New York steered me toward the standard treatment: brutal chemotherapy that would have left me hospitalized. It tends to work temporarily and often ends in death after five- to eight-year life-draining chemo regimens. Going into AP mode — I played on a high-stakes card-counting team, so I am no stranger to the mindset; plus, I was writing 'Advantage Players' — I found a better game at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. An oncologist there has helped to pioneer non-toxic treatments for the disease. 12 Michael Kaplan has not only written about advantage play, but he's used it in casinos and in life. Brian Zak/NY Post 12 Don Johnson used advantage play gambling to extract many millions of dollars from casinos around the world, according to reports. GC Images Advertisement I used AP aggression to wangle a quick appointment and wound up with a protocol that uses targeted drugs instead of chemo. I am treated this way by Dr. Peter Martin, a brilliant oncologist and researcher, at Weill Cornell Medicine in Manhattan. Currently, there is no cancer evident in my blood. The treatment has no side effects for me. Of course, the real APs are the scientists/doctors who outplayed cancer and came up with the cutting-edge treatment. As the book makes clear, sometimes being an advantage player means turning the tables on death. Other times, it leads to selling art creatively, raving about blackjack, or producing better movies. No matter what, though, I hope readers will be inspired to bring out their inner advantage players and be all the better for it.
