Posted on 03/13/2024 7:55:43 AM PDT by george76
Dollar Tree can't keep up with Bidenflation, changing consumer habits, and competition from other discount retailers — and will close nearly 1,000 of its Family Dollar locations around the country. The company announced the move this week following disappointing quarterly results
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"struggling to deal with a shift in consumer spending to lower-margin essentials from higher-margin discretionary products
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Even discount items .. are now out of reach for many Americans who have shifted their buying habits to even "lower-margin essentials" like food and gas.
The mainstream media keeps telling me the economy is booming, but Family Dollar can't cut it in an age when moms are forced to give up the $8 Maybelline Fit Me Concealer so they can put a couple more gallons of gas in the car to get to work in the morning.
It isn't like all of those lost Family Dollar sales simply disappeared into the ether. Some, maybe even most, went to competitors like Walmart. But the big tell here about the actual state of the economy is that discount shoppers didn't move up-market from Family Dollar to Target, but down-market from Family Dollar to Walmart and Dollar Tree.
Even Dollar Tree isn't what it used to be. Inflation forced the company to raise its famous dollar-for-everything price to $1.25 on most items back in 2021. Dollar Tree CEO Michael Witynski said at the time that "the additional price point [allows us] greater flexibility to manage the overall business, especially in a volatile, inflationary environment." But mostly it let the company generate enough revenue to keep growing. Those growth days, at least for the company's Family Dollar outlets, appear to be over.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
A dollar isn’t what it used to be, darn right….unless you take for instance our old silver Morgan and Peace dollars…now fetching anywhere from $30 to tens of thousands of $$$.
Put a US $1 paper Federal Reserve note in one hand, and a U.S. Peace or Morgan dollar in the other…..see which one you would rather own.
I’m old. I remember doing to five and dime stores. Then Dollar Stores.
What will we soon call low value stores where basic items are Ten Dollars?
Chicongo, Sanfransicko, Orcland etc. will probably be on the chopping block.
Best. Economy. Ever.
Dollar Tree has a nice $5 knockoff of the Apple wireless earbuds, charging case (micro USB connector, so you may need to pick up one of those cables while you're there), good battery life, decent sound. Charge them in the case overnight before using. You'll probably have to hunt to find them, or order 20 for $125 (plus shipping) off the website. There are two (soon three) wireless earbuds there, thee item I've used is linked in my tagline.
Wow what a menu
Dollar Tree is still worth shopping. Dollar General and Family Dollar haven’t been for a very long time. I was sad when Dollar Tree merged in some locations. In the merged stores 88% of the Dollar Tree stuff is long gone. The other stuff is priced higher than the local WalMart. Shoppers aren’t stupid -— especially those who pinch pennies. Just because the name says “dollar” -— well, as I said, Americans aren’t stupid. I, like many others, will continue to go to the pure Dollar Tree stores and skip the other two pretend dollar stores altogether. Just my two cents.
Wow...a Banana Split for 15 cents.
GREAT post. Thanks. I remember a pack of 5 baseball cards for a nickel with a flat piece of chewing gum inside.
I rcall the ‘smell’ of those packs my big brother use to buy.
What will go into those soon to be empty stores? Quarter stores? Or will it be empty like big boxes are?
If stores like Family Dollar can’t make it, then I guess we’ve all been lied to by the Biden administration about the state of the economy & inflation. I don’t know about everybody else’s thoughts, but I think the Court system has been playing “ring around the rosey” with the wrong person or persons.
Maybe it’s our fault because we knew the Federal Government has been lying to us.....it’s just a matter of how much.
Leon Levine died recently? In the 70s, one of my classmates was a son of his. I guess I should see if I can find him and tell him for his loss.
I used to go to family dollar until their prices were equal to walmart. In some cases, one or two pennies more. It wasn’t worth the extra gas and time to shop there if I had to go to walmart, anyway for items nobody else carried.
Dollar tree has a few reasonable products, but they aren’t really cheap on some things. They offer smaller packages of some things that already cost less than a dollar at regular stores.
I do purchase my reading glasses there.
Target. I’ve never shopped there so last week I went in to browse. Their prices were significantly higher than I’m used to. I needed a microwave, but their selection was poor and their prices were about 1/3 higher than I was willing to pay. A microwave of the size and power that I wanted was arounf $150.00.
SO i went across the street to walmart. The same brand and size was under $100. But they had something else I liked. It was a microwave, roaster, air fryer, convection and it came with the pans, too, for $100.00. I bought it and I love it. It does a wonderful job at everything I’ve thrown at it. Even the sènsor reheat brought my refrigerated food to the perfect eating temp.
It’s called Galanz.
I shop around and I get good deals. I have to stretch every budgeted dollar to the max.
I have no idea who makes this machine, but comperable ones on the low price end go for around $250, give or take a few bucks.
You have to compete in this market. A profit margin of 10 years ago can’t be reasonably expected.
Per wiki...
Died
April 5, 2023 (aged 85)
Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.
I hate to admit it, but I do a lot of purchasing via Amazon. I will comparison shop, but a lot of the times...Amazon is cheaper, plus free shipping to the house (generally very fast).
The oven you bought sounds like a GREAT deal. Sometimes, the only way you find a great deal is by physically shopping around. I hate to leave the house now days.
Banana Splits used to be sold everywhere back then, can't find them now. How much would they be now?
"Egg and Milk Shake, any flavor 15 cents". I don't recall eggs being part of a milk shake title, but I do recall milk shakes being 15 to 19 cents in the '60s. Those were the days when you could get a thick sandwich, large fries and a giant milkshake for under a dollar total.
And in those days cherry cokes were made with real cherry syrup.
Up to about 4 years ago we could get a good banana split at our local Dairy Queen. Then it was torn down and replaced by a Starbucks. Damn!
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