Dollar Tree Raising Prices

[luckysaver]

If you look at the backside of a Family Dollar product and compare with some of the items from Dollar Tree, they come from the same DC (550 Volvo Pkwy Chesapeake VA). Most items at Family Dollar are from "Midwood Brands Inc" with that same address while Dollar Tree items are from "Greenbriar International Inc" with that same address - they are both subsidiaries of Dollar Tree. Some items are completely identical but others are repackaged for FD to be sold at a higher price. The only common "brand"s I found between the two are "Driver's Choice", "Jot", and "Tool Bench Hardware". Many of the Midwood Brands products are carryovers from the pre-merger. Post-merger, Dollar Tree "Greenbriar" items started appearing - most are $1 except for repackaged items like hand tools which are often $3 or more.

If you're shopping at Family Dollar, look for items still labeled $1 and some of the clearance bin items (items are on clearance for below $1 and are NOT damaged). Dollar Tree items below $1 (except for greeting cards) are generally damaged items.
Unfortunately, Dollar Tree stores will never get any of the "Midwood" items (even for the clearance bin) and stores only get the "Greenbriar" products.

luckysaver

[HCal]

It looks like 99 Cents Only has quietly hiked many of its prices to $1.29 and $1.49. Many of its
1.49 products are 1.25 at Dollar Tree, so I guess that blows my theory that they’ll try to lure Dollar Tree consumers.

99’s pricing has become a joke lately. Softsoap sold a value pack at Walmart (I never saw it anywhere else) for $3.99. It included a 16 oz pump bottle and 32 oz refill (also sold separate for 2.99). Well, these must not have sold well and made their way into the dollar stores. The refills are $1.25 at DT… and $3.49 (higher than Walmart) at 99. At least Pepsi 2 liters are a buck…

Yup, I noticed this too. Many of their basic food items are now at or above supermarket pricing. Gallons of milk and pounds of butter are cheaper at Vons, for example.

I hope they aren't too leveraged to compete effectively. The funny thing is that store traffic is still high.

I wonder if more locations are going to get rebranded as the "99 Store". At this point, their name is very misleading.

[luckysaver]

Many mom-and-pop stores typically call themselves 99 Discount Plus, 99 and Up, or Bargain. Lately, many things that used to be $1 pre-COVID era is now priced at $1.49 or higher. This is likely a trend to either compete with Daiso and other "dollar discount stores" or due to inflation/port backlog. In my area near Los Angeles besides the major chains (Dollar Tree, Daiso, Five Below, 99CentsOnly, Family Dollar, Dollar General), we have the mom-and-pops like Dollar Superstore, Giant Dollar, Q Bargain, 10 or Less, Viva Discount, 99 Cent Plus, 98 Plus, and others with "Discount" or "Bargain" in their name.

Dollar King (a small chain in LA's San Fernando Valley) has price point for everything at $1.51 (Yikes!) - just a few years ago, everything was $1, then they raised it to $1.10-$1.25, and now $1.51 within the last few months! But if you buy from their online store, ever item is $1.99!

The rebranded 99CentsOnly stores to The 99 Store is NOT misleading - it reflects the fact that much of their merchandise is 99 and up. Momentum Brands is the subsidiary that oversees much of the store inventories and merchandise. Examples of the remodeled stores are in La Puente CA and the LA City neighborhood of Highland Park.

A lot of their merchandise (assorted items from "Momentum Brands") recently ended up in many mom-and-pop bargain stores and gas station c-stores across Southern California. Unfortunately, I found some common "Momentum Brands" items at a gas station that were priced in the 2.59+ range and those same items would be 99 Cents at the 99CentsOnly or around $1 at the mom-and-pop dollar shops.

Adjacent to their corporate headquarters/DC in Commerce CA, they own Bargain W - a wholesale warehouse open to the public with free membership but with the promise that you purchase at least $2500 worth of items and resell them for 99 Cents or below. All merchandise available for public sale are the same common items found at 99CentsOnly/The 99 Store.

luckysaver

[storewanderer]

Most Dollar Tree locations in Reno/Sparks posted a sign today that says they will be closing the store at 6 PM on January 30.

Is this the standard process before they increase prices to 1.25 to close early the night before?

[storewanderer]

They seem to be seeding some better items into the stores that are increasing to the $1.25 price point. The stores in my area are still $1 until 6 PM tonight. I found full size boxes of various General Mills Cereals for $1 which isn't really a great deal if you coupon but for a walk in price that is pretty good. I also found 16oz (?) Method Hand Soaps (they had a ton of those), 56oz Simply Hand Soap Refill (this is a packer label from Vi Jon who makes most of the US-made store brand hand soaps), 32oz Simply Foaming Hand Soap Refill, also at $1. Also looked like they had some larger/thicker plastic storage containers than they had sold previously.

Ended up with 8 items which is probably the most I've ever bought from this chain at once. They were giving out plastic bags that had the "Everything's $1" printed on the bags, must have to use those up too. They seemed to be switching to plain gray plastic bags that did not have any printing on them at all.

[storewanderer]

Went into a couple more of these stores today. One store (former Thrifty) was a filthy mess and the heat was not working; it felt like it was 50 degrees inside the store.

Went to another location, in a chunk of the old Montgomery Ward. I'm not sure I've ever been in this store before. The other tenant is Goodwill Outlet, and Goodwill, in the rest of the old Montgomery Ward. There is a homeless encampment on the front sidewalk/side of the building. Someone was sitting on top of a van in the parking lot and there was an awful lot of activity in the parking lot. Noticed regular hours are 9 AM to 7 PM, which I find odd, as the area is fairly busy at night. Once inside this store it is quite large, at least 25,000 square feet, and fully stocked. An announcement was made over the speaker around 5:25 that the store would be closing in 20 minutes and someone screamed loudly "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" after the announcement was made, for everyone in the store to hear. Not sure I've ever witnessed that sort of thing before. Only saw one employee in the store, but assume there were more as this place was really well stocked and quite busy.

[Alpha8472]

I was at a crowded Walmart once when the power went out and the store was plunged into darkness. The entire store let out a scream of disappointment. It was the night before Thanksgiving. The big problem for the employees was trying to get customers to stop shopping and leave.

[Bagels]

Not only did Dollar Tree raise its prices 25% across the board, it’s also shrinking product sizes. In 2019, a package of cotton swabs included 400. In 2020, it was reduced to 300. In 2022, it’s being reduced to 200. So on January 1st, DT charged $1 for 300 cotton swabs but by the end of February, $1.25 will buy 200 cotton swabs. In other words, the price per cotton swab has doubled.

It’s not just their own products. I noticed that Power Stick has introduced new packaging but kept the size the same…. But the produce is clearly watered down. If you shake the “old” stock alongside the “new” stock, it’s pretty obvious. Maybe because Walmart dropped the brand?

[storewanderer]

Not only did Dollar Tree raise its prices 25% across the board, it’s also shrinking product sizes. In 2019, a package of cotton swabs included 400. In 2020, it was reduced to 300. In 2022, it’s being reduced to 200. So on January 1st, DT charged $1 for 300 cotton swabs but by the end of February, $1.25 will buy 200 cotton swabs. In other words, the price per cotton swab has doubled.

It’s not just their own products. I noticed that Power Stick has introduced new packaging but kept the size the same…. But the produce is clearly watered down. If you shake the “old” stock alongside the “new” stock, it’s pretty obvious. Maybe because Walmart dropped the brand?

I went into a Dollar Tree tonight, the one I go into most often, and I was very surprised to see just as many customers as always shopping in the store. I do think the transaction sizes may have been off a bit but that has always been somewhat variable. I did not hear any people commenting negatively about the $1.25 price point either as I attempted to observe and listen to what people were saying. This particular area of Reno is solidly middle class and full of CA transplants so I am not sure if they are just used to getting ripped off, not paying attention, or flat out don't care. There is an extremely busy Wal Mart directly across the street. I expect Dollar Tree will have more difficulties with this price increase in lower income neighborhoods and other regions of the US.

[Bagels]

Not only did Dollar Tree raise its prices 25% across the board, it’s also shrinking product sizes. In 2019, a package of cotton swabs included 400. In 2020, it was reduced to 300. In 2022, it’s being reduced to 200. So on January 1st, DT charged $1 for 300 cotton swabs but by the end of February, $1.25 will buy 200 cotton swabs. In other words, the price per cotton swab has doubled.

It’s not just their own products. I noticed that Power Stick has introduced new packaging but kept the size the same…. But the produce is clearly watered down. If you shake the “old” stock alongside the “new” stock, it’s pretty obvious. Maybe because Walmart dropped the brand?

I went into a Dollar Tree tonight, the one I go into most often, and I was very surprised to see just as many customers as always shopping in the store. I do think the transaction sizes may have been off a bit but that has always been somewhat variable. I did not hear any people commenting negatively about the $1.25 price point either as I attempted to observe and listen to what people were saying. This particular area of Reno is solidly middle class and full of CA transplants so I am not sure if they are just used to getting ripped off, not paying attention, or flat out don't care. There is an extremely busy Wal Mart directly across the street. I expect Dollar Tree will have more difficulties with this price increase in lower income neighborhoods and other regions of the US.

My local Dollar Tree was very crowded as well. The biggest factor working in their favor is the 99 Cents Only and the local Hispanic dollar stores have raised most of their prices to $1.29. Heck, even Rite Aid’s Dollar Corner is now mostly $2.

Most of the snack foods at 99 Cents Only are still priced at 99c - most of these items are priced at $1 or else at Ralphs, Walmart and elsewhere. Given that Dollar Tree converted / dedicated much of its square footage to these snacks, I’m surprised they raised their prices on these items.

The 99 is having its own problems. Plenty of its shelving space has been bear for awhile, and the quantity of “Momentum Brands” (in house) products seems to be disappearing. Not sure if they’re having supply chain issues or what. Most of their personal & household items are now either name brand close outs or Lucky brand. The Lucky brand is junk (the body wash is so diluted with water that buying the name brand equivalent elsewhere will save you in the long run) and many of the close outs are priced above regular retail. $9.99 for a twin pack of Treseme, $3.99 for a value bottle of Softsoap refill (sold at Walmart for $3.09 at the moment).

Kraft and Tillamook use to dump their excess inventory off at the 99, but seem to be largely using Grocery Outlet. I’m not surprised — a 16 oz tub of Oscar Meyer deli meat use to be $1, but the 99 raised the price to $4.99 (about the same price as a regular Ralphs sale price, for an item expiring in days). I see them at Grocery outlet now for $1.99, generally going down to 77 cents after a few days. Not sure why the switch.