According to Dollar General Corp., there was a 7 percent rise in the fourth quarter with more shoppers seeking bargain buys to make their dollar stretch further.

Beating 2008 sales growth of 9 percent, same store sales of Dollar General jumped 9.5 percent in 2009.

In the fourth quarter, there was a rise by 7 percent in Dollar General's profit to $87.2 million, or a 26 cent per share. A year ago, Dollar General's profit was $81.9 million or 26 cents per share.

It was forecasted by the discount store operator that the 2010 earning will be in the range of Wall Street's expectations but it was seen a slight rise in the premarket trade.

From $2.85 billion the revenue grew 12 percent in the quarter to $3.19.

From $108.2 million or 34 cent per share in the previous year, the profit rose double of that to $339.4 million or $1.04 per share.

Annual revenue rose by 13 percent to $11.8 billion from $10.46 billion.

For the year 2010, it is anticipated by Dollar General that the profit would be about $1.55 and $1.63 per share with sales up by 8 percent to 10 percent.

More than 8,800 stores are owned by Dollar General in 35 states.