99 CENT ONLY closing

[ClownLoach]

Would a 99 Cent Only Stores run by Dollar Tree be an improvement?

Here's what I'm thinking: Dollar Tree doesn't have any plans to " operate 99 Cents Only" beyond keeping stores open in a transition period while they remodel, like Aldi/Winn-Dixie. I have my doubts these stores will offer produce, and any of the 99 Cents branded items they used to carry during the transitionary period.

At this point I think we'll just have to wait and see how serious Dollar Tree is about this.

Remodel? You can paint the walls white and green in one night. Move shelves with those rented gondola skids. There's nothing to remodel. Either they're going to run as 99 Cents Only or they're going to run Dollar Tree. Remember this was a strong competitor at one time, so they could also be buying the brand to ensure it stays dead.

[rwsandiego]

... they could also be buying the brand to ensure it stays dead.

If they don't operate at least one location called "99 cents only" (or whatever the hell they were calling themselves when they closed), after a period of non-use another firm could use the name. I doubt that would happen, though.

They could operate one (1) store as "99 cents only by Dollar tree," though.

[Alpha8472]

The very name is false advertising these days. Almost everything is over 99 cents.

Dollar Tree will have to replace those signs with new The 99 Store signs. Eventually they will all convert to Dollar Tree except for the token few stores to keep the trademark alive.

[HoustonRetail]

Would a 99 Cent Only Stores run by Dollar Tree be an improvement?

Here's what I'm thinking: Dollar Tree doesn't have any plans to " operate 99 Cents Only" beyond keeping stores open in a transition period while they remodel, like Aldi/Winn-Dixie. I have my doubts these stores will offer produce, and any of the 99 Cents branded items they used to carry during the transitionary period.

At this point I think we'll just have to wait and see how serious Dollar Tree is about this.

Remodel? You can paint the walls white and green in one night. Move shelves with those rented gondola skids. There's nothing to remodel. Either they're going to run as 99 Cents Only or they're going to run Dollar Tree. Remember this was a strong competitor at one time, so they could also be buying the brand to ensure it stays dead.

There's not much, but exterior signage and POS would have to be swapped at the minimum. I don't know about other areas, but here, at least, Dollar Tree is quite particular about using their fixtures when taking over a space. They would likely replace the walk-in coolers with freestanding equipment. As well, in the few times I've seen a Dollar Tree take over a 99 Cents Only store, they downsized. Again, it might be regional, but DT tends to hover around 10k Sqft, and 99 Cents seems to be closer to 20k+ here.

[ClownLoach]

Here's what I'm thinking: Dollar Tree doesn't have any plans to " operate 99 Cents Only" beyond keeping stores open in a transition period while they remodel, like Aldi/Winn-Dixie. I have my doubts these stores will offer produce, and any of the 99 Cents branded items they used to carry during the transitionary period.

At this point I think we'll just have to wait and see how serious Dollar Tree is about this.

Remodel? You can paint the walls white and green in one night. Move shelves with those rented gondola skids. There's nothing to remodel. Either they're going to run as 99 Cents Only or they're going to run Dollar Tree. Remember this was a strong competitor at one time, so they could also be buying the brand to ensure it stays dead.

There's not much, but exterior signage and POS would have to be swapped at the minimum. I don't know about other areas, but here, at least, Dollar Tree is quite particular about using their fixtures when taking over a space. They would likely replace the walk-in coolers with freestanding equipment. As well, in the few times I've seen a Dollar Tree take over a 99 Cents Only store, they downsized. Again, it might be regional, but DT tends to hover around 10k Sqft, and 99 Cents seems to be closer to 20k+ here.

Signs take a few hours. Registers is an overnight install even for a store as large as Walmart if needed. My brother is a network engineer who has done multiple full Walmart stores overnight previously.

All I'm saying is it makes zero sense to buy the branding for "temporary use." Either they acquired it to use it or they acquired it to bury it somehow. They also could have been forced to buy all the intellectual property to get what they wanted, if they were looking for customer databases or something else. It would be chaotic and bizarre to reopen as 99 and then rebrand to DT in the following months. The stores are already cleared out for the most part, at least the ones I'm driving past in Arizona right now. If the goal is to just become DT then they would be better served reopening with that concept in place.

And right now I have my local DT relocating from an approximate 10K space to what appears to be about a 20K space and they're using all the room. So they can use the space if they want to.

I know that I am being a little excessive when I say it could be open in a day or two, but these still are not fleets of very consistent stores at DT with perfect prototypical design. They can get open quickly.

[Alpha8472]

Dollar Tree opened up inside an abandoned Walgreens in Dublin, California not too long ago. The store still looks like a Walgreens. The floor is a Walgreens floor and they even kept the Walgreens mirrors all around the store near the ceilings. The pharmacy was turned into a break room for employees. The drive-thru window is covered up. Dollar Tree hung up some signs and brought in some refrigerators. This was a very cheap conversion. I assume a 99 Cent Only conversion would be easy.

It could be converted back to a Walgreens with very little effort.

[storewanderer]

I've seen some Walgreens to Dollar Tree locations in various states where they literally move in and even keep the old Walgreens shelving/flooring as well. They do get a Dollar Tree checkstand type set up with belts but just a couple checkstands again just like Walgreens had. Also they keep the Walgreens walk in coolers in place but do not use them, instead they install their own freestanding coolers in front of them. Supposedly they do this for cost reasons and because they want more freezer space and less refrigerated space.

So with Dollar Tree it seems to depend on the store. Most others stores/spaces they take over they absolutely do remodel them to a specific spec, size, layout, style of floor, ceiling tile, etc. Their specifications seem to change over time.

We will see what happens. Nobody in 99 Only seems to be aware that Dollar Tree bought the name and the large block of additional leases. I know what the docket says but it seems to be a big secret.

Their fixture sales are very odd- some stores did not sell fixtures at all this weekend. Other stores sold only very limited/specific fixtures. My feeling here is Dollar Tree is going to move into these places and reopen them "as is" and not convert them to Dollar Tree. But I guess we will see.

Dollar Tree never changed POS systems at Family Dollar, it still uses its legacy system- probably because it is a superior system. I am not sure what system Family Dollar is using. Dollar Tree's proprietary POS system is one of the worst around; so slow and clunky to operate. 99 Only was running on a very old system (very very old version of the system Smart & Final and Natural Grocers and Hy Vee currently use) but it did a great job compared to the Dollar Tree system.

[storewanderer]

It appears Burlington is assuming two leases

7639 Westheimer Houston, TX
10787 Jones Houston, TX

[CalItalian]

All acquired The 99 Store locations will reopen under the Dollar Tree banner. Earliest they will reopen is this fall. Dollar Tree press release and multiple media outlets are reporting this afternoon.

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news ... llar-tree/

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/busi ... s/3423688/

[CalItalian]

The very name is false advertising these days. Almost everything is over 99 cents.

Dollar Tree will have to replace those signs with new The 99 Store signs. Eventually they will all convert to Dollar Tree except for the token few stores to keep the trademark alive.

They did not refer to themselves in remodeled stores or advertising as 99 Cents Only. That was changed a few years ago to "The 99 Store". The website was never fully changed, though.