Chicago — Dollar General Corp. posted a quarterly profit this past week that was larger than expected, reporting that it had earned $214.1 million during the second quarter. This was up from $146 million a year earlier.

The company says it normally does well when economic concerns are more common as it sells the majority of its merchandise below $10. The corporation reports that the volatile economy and rising food prices have put pressure on those with limited budgets to spend less.

Dollar General, which operates more than 10,200 locations, says it has plans to either remodel or relocate about 575 of its stores this year and open about 625 stores in fiscal 2013.