Current Events > Family Dollar and Dollar Tree will close 1,000 stores

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/03/13/investing/family-dollar-dollar-tree-closing-stores/index.html

Family Dollar, the struggling discount chain that caters to low-income customers predominantly in cities, said Wednesday it will close nearly 1,000 stores.
Years of mismanagement and poor conditions in stores have hurt Family Dollars brand. Family Dollar, which is owned by Dollar Tree, was recently fined more than $40 million for a rat infestation at a warehouse that forced hundreds of stores to temporarily close.
Decades-high inflation has hit shoppers hard, and a general consumer pullback has impacted Family Dollar customers and the chains profits, exacerbating its battle with discount competitors such as Dollar General, Walmart and others.
In addition, the reduction in benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, has left struggling families with as much as $250 less per month. Discount stores and consumer goods companies say they have felt the impact of that loss.

Persistent inflation and reduced government benefits continue to pressure the lower-income consumers that comprise a sizable portion of Family Dollars customer base, CEO Rick Dreiling said Wednesday on a call with analysts.
Family Dollar will close 600 locations this year and 370 stores over the next several years as store leases expire. Family Dollar has around 8,000 US stores. Dollar Tree also said it will close 30 stores as leases expire.
The closures will improve the companys profitability. But they are likely to leave a void for Americans with already limited shopping choices. Family Dollar stores are often in areas with few supermarkets, big box stores and other retail options.
Shares of Dollar Tree sank more than 13% to their lowest level this year in early trading Wednesday.

Understaffed and hazardous stores

Discount retail has been one of the bright spots in the industry, dating back to the Great Recession, when the economic downturn and high unemployment meant Americans hunkered down, forcing retailers to slash prices to survive.
Years of bargain hunting has conditioned shoppers to look for discounts instead of paying full price, a mentality that remains to this day.
So, while thousands of department stores, speciality stores in malls and other retailers have closed, discount companies ranging from Walmart to Dollar General to TJ Maxx have grown. These companies have focused on appealing to the shrinking middle class and lower-wage shoppers searching for low prices. As many shoppers have been squeezed by the highest level of inflation in decades, discount chains have improved their position.
But Family Dollar has missed out.
Dollar Tree, which focuses more on middle-income shoppers in suburbs, bought Family Dollar in 2015 for $8.5 billion.
The combined company hoped that by joining forces, it could grow its customer base, reduce costs and fend off bigger retailers like Dollar General, which is mainly in rural areas.
But Dollar Tree has struggled to integrate Family Dollar and has closed hundreds of stores in recent years.
Family Dollar stores were in worse condition than Dollar Tree expected when it acquired the business, analysts say. Even though Family Dollar has renovated thousands of stores in recent years, many stores are still poorly maintained. Stores are often understaffed and boxes block aisles.

Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, Dollar General and other discount stores have had longstanding theft issues, operating stores with just a handful of employees who have at times been victims of violent robberies and other crimes.
Dollar Tree employees have complained about unsafe working conditions, and OSHA last year criticized the company for a continued disregard for human safety that suggests the company thinks profits matter more than people.
Family Dollar was hit with a record fine this year for violating product safety standards after selling items that were stocked in a rat-infested warehouse in West Memphis filled with live, dead and decaying rodents.
The $41.6 million fine was the largest-ever monetary criminal penalty in a food safety case, the Justice Department said.
Last year, Dollar Tree announced it would review its entire portfolio of Family Dollar stores to identify underperforming locations.

Dollar General booming
As Family Dollar struggled, rival Dollar General boomed.
Dollar General has opened about 1,000 stores a year, making it the fastest-growing retailer in the United States. The company has around 18,000 stores.

Good way to get rid of your rival, buy them then close all their stores.

related video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4QGOHahiVM

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/36b1c4a1.png

Damn, I hope the one near me stays open, I love that place.

Wouldn't it be easier to hire 1,000 people so each store has 2 employees working?

Pretty wild to come out and basically just straight-up say that you're losing money because the government isn't giving poor people enough of it

Thermador446 posted...

Wouldn't it be easier to hire 1,000 people so each store has 2 employees working?

How would exec make billions in profit then?

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/DLTR/dollar-tree/gross-profit

• Dollar Tree gross profit for the quarter ending October 31, 2023 was $2.179B, a 5.01% increase year-over-year.
• Dollar Tree gross profit for the twelve months ending October 31, 2023 was $8.943B, a 2.97% increase year-over-year.
• Dollar Tree annual gross profit for 2023 was $8.935B, a 15.48% increase from 2022.
• Dollar Tree annual gross profit for 2022 was $7.737B, a 0.65% decline from 2021.
• Dollar Tree annual gross profit for 2021 was $7.788B, a 10.62% increase from 2020.

wow the skit in the John Oliver video was brilliant

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3cb43cb1.jpg

Ive never been in a Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, or Dollar General in my life. I see them all over though and loved the Last Week Tonight feature on them.

there are literally 3 within a mile and a half of my current location. one or two of them can go

I don't care. It sucks that some places have no grocery stores other than these shitty dollar stores that are run horribly and treat their staff like shit, and people will lose their jobs but I just don't care. These are the kinds of businesses that deserve to fail, because they treat their workers horribly and don't even do a good job at anything. Customer experience in one sucks also.

I work at a retail store in a union(I am a manager in a separate union) and I have stolen two employees from the Dollar Tree in my plaza, because they both seemed like good people and the job i could provide them with is significantly easier and better and pays more, and has a path to actual benefits you can use.

After I hired the second one I have decided to boycott Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Five Below and Family Dollar because I had a friend who worked at five below and it was just a miserable existence. scheduled for like 8 hours a week(not in one shift of course) and you had to call to see if you were needed most days. Tree they let one of my people I hired go on some bullshit and I realized just how dumb it is and while most retail jobs stink, the bottom of barrel jobs don't need my support.

Like I said, it sucks that these places are a job(albeit low, low paying, stressful and stupid) for some and they may lose them. But these companies are so terrible to their workers I just don't care.