diff --git a/lix/legacy/nix-collect-garbage.cc b/lix/legacy/nix-collect-garbage.cc
index 5dc45df09..638fe3093 100644
--- a/lix/legacy/nix-collect-garbage.cc
+++ b/lix/legacy/nix-collect-garbage.cc
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ static int main_nix_collect_garbage(AsyncIoRoot & aio, std::string programName,
     {
         bool removeOld = false;
 
-        GCOptions options;
+        GCOptions options = {.action = GCOptions::gcDeleteDead};
 
         LegacyArgs(aio, programName, [&](Strings::iterator & arg, const Strings::iterator & end) {
             if (*arg == "--help")
@@ -75,12 +75,13 @@ static int main_nix_collect_garbage(AsyncIoRoot & aio, std::string programName,
             else if (*arg == "--delete-older-than") {
                 removeOld = true;
                 deleteOlderThan = getArg(*arg, arg, end);
-            }
-            else if (*arg == "--dry-run") dryRun = true;
-            else if (*arg == "--max-freed")
+            } else if (*arg == "--dry-run") {
+                options.action = GCOptions::gcReturnDead;
+            } else if (*arg == "--max-freed") {
                 options.maxFreed = std::max(getIntArg<int64_t>(*arg, arg, end, true), (int64_t) 0);
-            else
+            } else {
                 return false;
+            }
             return true;
         }).parseCmdline(argv);
 
@@ -92,24 +93,12 @@ static int main_nix_collect_garbage(AsyncIoRoot & aio, std::string programName,
         }
 
         // Run the actual garbage collector.
-        if (!dryRun) {
-            options.action = GCOptions::gcDeleteDead;
-        } else {
-            options.action = GCOptions::gcReturnDead;
-        }
         auto store = aio.blockOn(openStore());
         auto & gcStore = require<GcStore>(*store);
         GCResults results;
-        PrintFreed freed(true, results);
+        PrintFreed freed(options.action, results);
         aio.blockOn(gcStore.collectGarbage(options, results));
 
-        if (dryRun) {
-            // Only print results for dry run; when !dryRun, paths will be printed as they're deleted.
-            for (auto & i : results.paths) {
-                printInfo("%s", Uncolored(i));
-            }
-        }
-
         return 0;
     }
 }
diff --git a/lix/legacy/nix-store.cc b/lix/legacy/nix-store.cc
index 57545c3ae..56f68ccb1 100644
--- a/lix/legacy/nix-store.cc
+++ b/lix/legacy/nix-store.cc
@@ -711,12 +711,8 @@ static void opGC(std::shared_ptr<Store> store, AsyncIoRoot & aio, Strings opFlag
     }
 
     else {
-        PrintFreed freed(options.action == GCOptions::gcDeleteDead, results);
+        PrintFreed freed(options.action, results);
         aio.blockOn(gcStore.collectGarbage(options, results));
-
-        if (options.action != GCOptions::gcDeleteDead)
-            for (auto & i : results.paths)
-                cout << i << std::endl;
     }
 }
 
@@ -749,7 +745,7 @@ opDelete(std::shared_ptr<Store> store, AsyncIoRoot & aio, Strings opFlags, Strin
     auto & gcStore = require<GcStore>(*store);
 
     GCResults results;
-    PrintFreed freed(true, results);
+    PrintFreed freed(options.action, results);
     aio.blockOn(gcStore.collectGarbage(options, results));
 }
 
diff --git a/lix/libmain/shared.cc b/lix/libmain/shared.cc
index a6918a5f2..28629bc3a 100644
--- a/lix/libmain/shared.cc
+++ b/lix/libmain/shared.cc
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include "lix/libstore/store-api.hh"
 #include "lix/libstore/gc-store.hh"
 #include "lix/libutil/c-calls.hh"
+#include "lix/libutil/logging.hh"
 #include "lix/libutil/result.hh"
 #include "lix/libutil/signals.hh"
 #include "lix/libmain/loggers.hh"
@@ -403,13 +404,34 @@ RunPager::~RunPager()
     }
 }
 
-
 PrintFreed::~PrintFreed()
 {
-    if (show)
-        std::cout << fmt("%d store paths deleted, %s freed\n",
-            results.paths.size(),
-            showBytes(results.bytesFreed));
-}
+    // When in dry-run mode, print the paths on stdout
+    if (action == GCOptions::gcReturnLive || action == GCOptions::gcReturnDead) {
+        for (auto & i : results.paths) {
+            logger->cout("%s", i);
+        };
+    }
 
+    switch (action) {
+    case GCOptions::gcReturnLive: {
+        notice("%1% store paths would be kept\n", results.paths.size());
+        break;
+    }
+    case GCOptions::gcReturnDead: {
+        notice("%1% store paths would be deleted\n", results.paths.size());
+        break;
+    }
+    case GCOptions::gcDeleteDead:
+    case GCOptions::gcDeleteSpecific:
+    case GCOptions::gcTryDeleteSpecific: {
+        notice(
+            "%1% store paths deleted, %2% freed\n",
+            results.paths.size(),
+            showBytes(results.bytesFreed)
+        );
+        break;
+    }
+    }
+}
 }
diff --git a/lix/libmain/shared.hh b/lix/libmain/shared.hh
index bb6a485ea..55a94b0df 100644
--- a/lix/libmain/shared.hh
+++ b/lix/libmain/shared.hh
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
+#include "lix/libstore/gc-store.hh"
 #include "lix/libutil/args.hh"
 #include "lix/libutil/args/root.hh"
 #include "lix/libmain/common-args.hh"
@@ -99,10 +100,14 @@ struct GCResults;
 
 struct PrintFreed
 {
-    bool show;
+    GCOptions::GCAction action;
+
     const GCResults & results;
-    PrintFreed(bool show, const GCResults & results)
-        : show(show), results(results) { }
+    PrintFreed(GCOptions::GCAction action, const GCResults & results)
+        : action(action)
+        , results(results)
+    {
+    }
     ~PrintFreed();
 };
 
diff --git a/lix/nix/store-delete.cc b/lix/nix/store-delete.cc
index d2020f071..23151218c 100644
--- a/lix/nix/store-delete.cc
+++ b/lix/nix/store-delete.cc
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ struct CmdStoreDelete : StorePathsCommand
         }
 
         GCResults results;
-        PrintFreed freed(true, results);
+        PrintFreed freed(options.action, results);
         aio().blockOn(gcStore.collectGarbage(options, results));
     }
 };
diff --git a/lix/nix/store-gc.cc b/lix/nix/store-gc.cc
index b66bc1628..cd6fade4f 100644
--- a/lix/nix/store-gc.cc
+++ b/lix/nix/store-gc.cc
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ struct CmdStoreGC : StoreCommand, MixDryRun
 
         options.action = dryRun ? GCOptions::gcReturnDead : GCOptions::gcDeleteDead;
         GCResults results;
-        PrintFreed freed(options.action == GCOptions::gcDeleteDead, results);
+        PrintFreed freed(options.action, results);
         aio().blockOn(gcStore.collectGarbage(options, results));
     }
 };
diff --git a/tests/functional/gc.sh b/tests/functional/gc.sh
index 6df237eaa..062bd48be 100644
--- a/tests/functional/gc.sh
+++ b/tests/functional/gc.sh
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ nix-store --delete --skip-live $(readLink $outPath/reference-to-input-2)
 
 rm "$NIX_STATE_DIR"/gcroots/foo
 # with the dependent unrooted, we should be able to remove input2...
-nix-store --delete --delete-closure $input2 > delete-output
+nix-store --delete --delete-closure $input2 &> delete-output
 # which should remove input0, since only input2 and top depended on it and we passed --delete-closure
 ! test -e $input0
 # but fod should be unaffected, since it's not part of input-2's closure