Dollar General Corporation is an American chain of variety stores headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. As of August 2017, Dollar General operated over 13,000 stores in 44 of the 48 contiguous United States (the exceptions being four states in the northwest: Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming). The company first began in 1939 as a family-owned business called J.L. Turner and Son in Scottsville, Kentucky by James Luther Turner and Cal Turner. In 1968 the name changed to Dollar General Corporation and the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Fortune 500 recognized Dollar General in 1999 and in 2017 reached #128. Dollar General has grown to become one of the most profitable stores in the rural United States with revenue reaching around $21 billion in 2017.