No matter what happens at a shareholder meeting in December, a lot of Dollars are at stake in the financial sparring that started this summer among three of the country's largest discount retail operations. 

Despite any possible future changes, plans to open two new local stores have moved ahead. As a vote on the possible merger of Family Dollar and Dollar Tree approaches Dec. 11, the 11th Dollar General store in the Wilmington area has scheduled its grand opening for Saturday, Nov. 1.

The new Dollar General at 233 Dogwood Lane off Oleander Drive in Wilmington will hold festivities beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday, with the first 50 adult shoppers at the store receiving $10 Dollar General gift cards, according to a Dollar General news release issued this week.

Meanwhile, a Family Dollar under construction at 770 S. 17th St. is slated to open at the beginning of 2015, said Bryn R. Winburn, public and media relations manager with the company, in an email Tuesday.

Family Dollar, Dollar Tree and Dollar General, three separate national discount retailers with stores throughout the Cape Fear region, have increasingly been in the news after Family Dollar and Dollar Tree entered into a merger agreement in July. Dollar General's subsequent bid to buy Family Dollar, involving a more than $9 billion cash deal, was rejected by Family Dollar's Board of Directors, according to SEC filings from September. 

Family Dollar shareholders will meet at 10 a.m. Dec. 11 at Harris Conference Center in Charlotte to vote on the merger with Dollar Tree, according to documents filed Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In a letter to stockholders, Family Dollar wrote, "The merger cannot be completed unless Family Dollar stockholders holding at least a majority of the shares of Family Dollar common stock outstanding as of the close of business on October 30, 2014, the record date for the special meeting, vote in favor of adoption of the agreement at the special meeting."

Under the agreement, Dollar Tree would buy Family Dollar for $74.50 per share in cash and stock, with Family Dollar "surviving the merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of Dollar Tree."