{"id":335228,"date":"2026-07-10T02:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/335228\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T02:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:22:07","slug":"customers-raise-concerns-over-mmonths-of-heat-inside-fort-myers-dollar-general-company-says-it-took-steps-while-awaiting-repairs-lee-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/335228\/","title":{"rendered":"Customers raise concerns over Mmonths of heat inside Fort Myers Dollar General; Company says it took steps while awaiting repairs | Lee County"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 Customers who shop at a Dollar General<\/a> in Fort Myers say months without adequate air conditioning made shopping uncomfortable and left them worried about employees working through the Florida heat.<\/p>\n

The concerns center around the Dollar General located at 3409 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., where several customers told WINK News the store has felt unusually hot for months.<\/p>\n

One of those customers, Derricka Truttling, said she became concerned not only for shoppers but for the people working inside the store every day.<\/p>\n

“My biggest concern is the workers. You could just see the sweat coming off them,” Truttling said.<\/p>\n

She recalled watching an elderly customer enter the store after riding his bicycle, expecting to cool down.<\/p>\n

“You would think he would get relief in the store, but instead he’s just sitting there drenching,” she said.<\/p>\n

Truttling said she contacted Dollar General’s corporate office herself before reaching out to WINK News.<\/p>\n

“They told me they’ll call me back in a few days. I’ve never got a call back. I never got an email,” she said.<\/p>\n

After WINK News contacted Dollar General, the company provided the following statement:<\/p>\n

“Our store located at 3409 Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard in Fort Myers, Florida is currently operating at normal hours, and HVAC maintenance issues have been addressed.<\/p>\n

While we awaited delivery of specific parts needed for repairs, we installed several fans and operated under limited hours, amid other measures, to help ensure a comfortable working environment for our employees and pleasant shopping experience for customers. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers.<\/p>\n

Dollar General has food and product safety policies in place, which include removing and discarding damaged products, including food, medicines or perishable items.”<\/p>\n

\"Fort<\/p>\n

After reading the company’s response, Truttling said she still believes the situation should have been resolved sooner.<\/p>\n

“This is Florida. It doesn’t take months to do that. They have a lot of resources. To me, that’s just an excuse,” she said.<\/p>\n

She also encouraged others to speak up when they see problems affecting their community.<\/p>\n

“If you see something, say something. Don’t just let it slide. It’s not right.”<\/p>\n

Longtime customer Raymond Johnson shared similar concerns, saying the heat inside the store has made him question shopping there.<\/p>\n

“It’s been too hot,” Johnson said.<\/p>\n

He also worries about food sold inside the store.<\/p>\n

“All that food down there being hot is gonna make somebody sick,” he said.<\/p>\n

Not every customer shared the same level of concern.<\/p>\n

Jacqueline Battles Upshaw, who has shopped at the store for years, said she plans to continue shopping there despite the issue.<\/p>\n

“It’s nothing that can’t be repaired. It’s not going to stop me from coming to Dollar General because this is a skip and a hop from my house,” she said.<\/p>\n

While customers had differing opinions about the store, many agreed they hope conditions continue to improve for both shoppers and employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 Customers who shop at a Dollar General in Fort Myers say months without adequate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,26913,28,575,138092,897],"class_list":["post-335228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-dollar-general","tag-florida","tag-food","tag-food-safety-policies","tag-fort-myers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}