Family Dollar and Dollar Tree Store Closures

[storewanderer]

I think it is worth starting a thread about this going forward.

Family Dollar: Sparks, NV Prater Way. Probably the largest Family Dollar I've ever seen (went into an existing space from the 80's I think it was a Clothestime or something like that originally). It used to have decent traffic. Store has been open weird hours like 9 AM to 5 PM for the past year almost and closed Sunday. Today I saw signs up that said STORE CLOSING ALL ITEMS 50% off. The liquidation sale just started (it was operating normally last week if you could get there during the operating hours and was well stocked) and already at 50% off is very interesting. I am sure the reason the store is closing is due to a huge drop off in sales the past 9 months (since they were hardly ever open). This company is so badly run that they could not put 2 and 2 together and realize the store started to fail because it was never open. The Dollar Tree they have across the street is one of the highest volume Dollar Trees in the west. Or was. Traffic has dropped way off there since the 1.25 price point was introduced. This will leave one Family Dollar in Reno/Sparks proper which is actually in a former Dollar Tree and a very small store in a terrible neighborhood. At one time there were a few others but all got converted to Dollar Tree.

[DFWRetaileWatcher]

Seems to be a redundacy closure, more than anything. Although their product lines don't align completely (biggest difference being that Family Dollar carries some apparel, some refrigerated/frozen foods, some small electronics, and an extensive selection of name brand products), the store formats are similar enough that it often doesn't make sense from an operational standpoint to have the two brands located so close to each other. It's also possible that Dollar Tree at a higher level did some due dilligence and determined that the Dollar Tree brand is more profitable in the Reno market and have opted to focus their resources on expanding/growing that brand while phasing out the Family Dollar brand. I'd be interested to see if this is happening in another parts of the country (I bet it is).

That said, I will also say with the recent news about the incident at that huge Family Dollar warehouse for the Southeast region (that was forced to shut down), I get the idea that Dollar Tree is kind of running the Family Dollar brand into the ground. Before the acquisition, Family Dollar was doing better than ever with a ton of new locations openings and their newer stores were much more cleaner/organized, similar to Dollar General. Now, they've kind of regressed.

[storewanderer]

Seems to be a redundacy closure, more than anything. Although their product lines don't align completely, the store formats are similar enough that it often doesn't make sense from an operational standpoint to have the two brands located so close to each other. It's also possible that Dollar Tree at a higher level did some due dilligence and determined that the Dollar Tree brand is more profitable in the Reno market and have opted to focus their resources on expanding/growing that brand while phasing out the Family Dollar brand. I'd be interested to see if this is happening in another parts of the country (I bet it is).

That said, I will also say with the recent news about the incident at that huge Family Dollar warehouse for the Southeast region (that was forced to shut down), I get the idea that Dollar Tree is kind of running the Family Dollar brand into the ground. Before the acquisition, Family Dollar was doing better than ever with a ton of new locations openings and their newer stores were much more cleaner/organized, similar to Dollar General. Now, they've kind of regressed.

It is difficult to say. There is a relatively new build (under five years old) Family Dollar in Wellington, NV. In Fallon, NV there was a Dollar Tree for a long time, which seemed sized like a pretty typical Dollar Tree. But for whatever reason, eventually it relocated to a larger space. The former Dollar Tree space was vacant for a couple years but it reopened sometime in the past couple years as a Family Dollar. That Family Dollar in Fallon is hardly doing any business.

Dollar General also has only opened a couple stores in Reno proper and those openings were many years ago. There are others in outlying areas but not as many as you'd expect. Their more recent openings have been in rural CA areas (for instance one opened a few months ago in Doyle, CA).

[storewanderer]

Went into this store today. They increased the discount to 75% off. Probably 50 customers inside most of which with overflowing shopping carts they were using inside Family Dollar, the carts are from Food Maxx next door (large carts) like nothing I've ever seen before. Since Family Dollar has no carts.

Since Family Dollar only has two cash registers in a 15+k square foot store the 2 lines were stretching back halfway through the deep store (it is as deep as a supermarket). I estimate a 1-2 hour wait for checkout. I tried waiting about 40 minutes to buy some items which was a lot longer than I should have but when I had only moved about 3 customer lengths during that time and there were at least 10 very full carts in front of me plus a couple people with baskets I decided to give up and leave the store. I could tell the cashier was working very quickly but with these super full carts there was just no way for things to happen quickly. Lesson learned and I will not even try to purchase in a situation like this next time.

They must really want this store gone. To go to 75% off on what was almost a fully stocked store is pretty dire. I think it was a fully stocked store this morning. The reason is I saw cartfulls going out with paper products, diapers, laundry detergent. By the time I got to those aisles the aisles were pretty much empty save for a few random items.

I have been to or involved in multiple closing sales over the years and never seen one quite like this before with the giant cartfulls going out the door at 25 cents on the dollar. I guess what it comes down to is the discount percentage was increased much more rapidly than it usually is, and the store only has two cash registers... and the store is only open 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM/closed Sunday.

Also funny now hiring signs posted. For other store locations of course. Sign says Dollar Tree is now hiring minors.

[bryceleinan]

Went into this store today. They increased the discount to 75% off. Probably 50 customers inside most of which with overflowing shopping carts they were using inside Family Dollar, the carts are from Food Maxx next door (large carts) like nothing I've ever seen before. Since Family Dollar has no carts.

Since Family Dollar only has two cash registers in a 15+k square foot store the 2 lines were stretching back halfway through the deep store (it is as deep as a supermarket). I estimate a 1-2 hour wait for checkout. I tried waiting about 40 minutes to buy some items which was a lot longer than I should have but when I had only moved about 3 customer lengths during that time and there were at least 10 very full carts in front of me plus a couple people with baskets I decided to give up and leave the store. I could tell the cashier was working very quickly but with these super full carts there was just no way for things to happen quickly. Lesson learned and I will not even try to purchase in a situation like this next time.

They must really want this store gone. To go to 75% off on what was almost a fully stocked store is pretty dire. I think it was a fully stocked store this morning. The reason is I saw cartfulls going out with paper products, diapers, laundry detergent. By the time I got to those aisles the aisles were pretty much empty save for a few random items.

I have been to or involved in multiple closing sales over the years and never seen one quite like this before with the giant cartfulls going out the door at 25 cents on the dollar. I guess what it comes down to is the discount percentage was increased much more rapidly than it usually is, and the store only has two cash registers... and the store is only open 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM/closed Sunday.

Also funny now hiring signs posted. For other store locations of course. Sign says Dollar Tree is now hiring minors.

Silver Springs FD was going to close - they had the building up on LoopNet with no tenant in it. Drove by yesterday on my way back from Yerington, place is open, does not appear to be a closing store.

[storewanderer]

Silver Springs FD was going to close - they had the building up on LoopNet with no tenant in it. Drove by yesterday on my way back from Yerington, place is open, does not appear to be a closing store.

That is a strange store to close but I guess Dollar General across the highway is doing significantly more business. Evidently they will keep doing business there until the lease is reassigned. I see in Loopnet it was built in 2012 so maybe a 10 year lease not being extended. I think the Sparks one is probably around the same age so maybe that is what is going on.

I wonder if an actual small grocery store with limited meat/produce would work... a long time ago the business that used to occupy what is now the Chevron had that, but they didn't survive for some reason (I think they closed before DG/FD arrived). It was being supplied by at the time United Grocers previously Market Wholesale.

[storewanderer]

I returned to Family Dollar and was able to purchase some items. I see why their checkout is so slow as they have two cash registers and a "gun" style scanner. The POS set up looks like something from 1995. Looks like a gas station checkout but has less counter space than most gas station checkouts have. I guess I never noticed this before as I must have never attempted to buy more than an item or two from Family Dollar before. Family Dollar seems to be a bit of a joke on pricing. I noticed after reviewing my receipt almost everything scanned at a higher price than the shelf tags or in some cases stickers on the items. $1 items scanned $1.15 or $1.25. $3.50 items scanned $3.85. $7 item scanned $7.70. Everything was 75% off so it wasn't that big of a deal and I didn't say anything about it in the store but still pretty annoying.

Also would say their pricing isn't very good at all. Dollar General is much more aggressive on price. Dollar General is just a much better store in general. While the 75% off was a great deal especially for those folks who got there when it was still a fully stocked store and had hours to wait for checkout, I can see why this store failed in a somewhat competitive location.

Also- not sure why Family Dollar has shelf tags that print in multiple colors. Seems like a huge waste of money for a store that should be watching expenses.

[BillyGr]

I returned to Family Dollar and was able to purchase some items. I see why their checkout is so slow as they have two cash registers and a "gun" style scanner. The POS set up looks like something from 1995. Looks like a gas station checkout but has less counter space than most gas station checkouts have. I guess I never noticed this before as I must have never attempted to buy more than an item or two from Family Dollar before. Family Dollar seems to be a bit of a joke on pricing. I noticed after reviewing my receipt almost everything scanned at a higher price than the shelf tags or in some cases stickers on the items. $1 items scanned $1.15 or $1.25. $3.50 items scanned $3.85. $7 item scanned $7.70. Everything was 75% off so it wasn't that big of a deal and I didn't say anything about it in the store but still pretty annoying.

Also would say their pricing isn't very good at all. Dollar General is much more aggressive on price. Dollar General is just a much better store in general. While the 75% off was a great deal especially for those folks who got there when it was still a fully stocked store and had hours to wait for checkout, I can see why this store failed in a somewhat competitive location.

Also- not sure why Family Dollar has shelf tags that print in multiple colors. Seems like a huge waste of money for a store that should be watching expenses.

In a situation like this, I'd guess that the difference in ringing up vs. tags is just that they probably didn't have help to change the tags over the last couple months as items went up quickly in so many cases.

I did notice here that many of the formerly $1 items were now $1.25, which makes sense given that these items are often the same ones found in the Dollar Tree stores (being co-owned), so if they raised the price there it would be logical to do so in both chains.

I'd also suspect that they weren't too worried about it with the discount, figuring most customers would do as you did and not complain due to getting it at a much lower price (after the 75% off) than it would be elsewhere at normal prices - I remember getting quite a bit a couple years back when Rite Aid was selling off many stores to Walgreens and marked much of the store down for the same reasons (good prices even with their higher "normal" pricing).

On the other hand, there are many spots where they have set up both (Dollar Tree and Family Dollar) side by side, so they can work together - in fact, it almost seems like they could make most if not all the stores both, with a specific section marked as all items $1.25 and other parts with variable prices.

[storewanderer]

In a situation like this, I'd guess that the difference in ringing up vs. tags is just that they probably didn't have help to change the tags over the last couple months as items went up quickly in so many cases.

I did notice here that many of the formerly $1 items were now $1.25, which makes sense given that these items are often the same ones found in the Dollar Tree stores (being co-owned), so if they raised the price there it would be logical to do so in both chains.

I'd also suspect that they weren't too worried about it with the discount, figuring most customers would do as you did and not complain due to getting it at a much lower price (after the 75% off) than it would be elsewhere at normal prices - I remember getting quite a bit a couple years back when Rite Aid was selling off many stores to Walgreens and marked much of the store down for the same reasons (good prices even with their higher "normal" pricing).

On the other hand, there are many spots where they have set up both (Dollar Tree and Family Dollar) side by side, so they can work together - in fact, it almost seems like they could make most if not all the stores both, with a specific section marked as all items $1.25 and other parts with variable prices.

Supposedly they are going to convert most of Dollar Tree to a "Dollar Tree Plus" format. So they will have items above $1.25 there.

I agree with you they could just do a blend of Family Dollar and Dollar Tree in pretty much every location and do a $1.25 section. There are some Family Dollar locations in the west that have been remodeled into some format they still are a Family Dollar but they have a sign that says featuring Dollar Tree and inside the store most of the endcaps have Dollar Tree products and within the various departments various sections of shelving have products. For some reason they don't seem too eager to just do a true combo store type of format.

And this is the problem with Family Dollar and Dollar Tree. They have too many formats and tests going on trying to please Wall Street and make it look like they are trying to move past $1. All of these formats and tests seem to be taking on too many resources and the core stores are struggling to stock and operate effectively.

Meanwhile Dollar General is literally clobbering them. Dollar General basically has 2 formats the regular DG and the DG Market (then a third format trying to look like a Five Below, another little side show to please Wall Street that doesn't appear to be taking many resources). Then DG has some regular DGs where they expand housewares and downsize clothing but still those are basically a regular DG. Dollar General is still marketing they have thousands of items at the $1 price point.

[cjd]

I have not been in a Family Dollar in a long time. There are just so many Dollar General locations compared to Family Dollars here that I'm rarely in a convenient situation to go to one. There are two Dollar Generals within 5 minutes of my house, in fact in either direction I pass one. The closest Family Dollar is probably 20 minutes away.

Anyway, I visited the Family Dollar in the next town over just for fun. I hadn't been there in a long time. This one's in a strip mall, where originally it had the old 80s/90s setup of having a Dollar General right next door.

What struck me walking in, I felt like I was walking into a rabbit warren. You immediately walking into what was basically an aisle with the shelves running left to right. One main aisle to the left, and then the checkout counter was to your right, with just enough room to get past it to the other main aisle.

The part to the right of the checkout counter has a lower ceiling and is mostly where the clothing is I believe. I think that part may have originally been Dollar General, and Family Dollar took it over when Dollar General moved out. But I can't imagine both stores originally having been so narrow.

Anyway, this was a well stocked and neat store, but I was just overwhelmed at how maze like it felt. And the shelves being relatively tall just added to the boxed in feel. I know Dollar General stores are pretty crowded, but the aisle directions change enough and there are enough places to move around in the ones around here that it doesn't feel too crowded.

I haven't been in any of the newer build Family Dollars but it seems like all the older ones here have this crowded feeling.