Interesting News in the World of Dollar Stores

You might recall a while back that Dollar Tree and Dollar General were both trying to acquire Family Dollar. In the end, Dollar Tree prevailed. Today I want to share with you some interesting news about what might be happening to the Family Dollar stores in your area.

Keep reading for the scoop...

Dollar Tree has announced that it is planning to sell off 300+ Family Dollar stores across the nation. But apparently NONE of those stores will actually be closing.

In an article on Coupons in the News, it has been revealed that Dollar Tree will be selling some of its newly-acquired Family Dollar locations to Sycamore Partners (owners of Aeropostale, Coldwater Creek, Talbots and other retailers), and that Sycamore "plans to transform the 330 stores in 35 states into its very own dollar store chain, called Dollar Express."

From Coupons in the News:

Most of the Family Dollar stores on the list are very close to existing Dollar Tree locations. While the two chains’ assortment and price points are very different, the Federal Trade Commission said allowing the chains to combine as is, would lessen competition. “This settlement will ensure that consumers will continue to benefit from competition among their local dollar stores,” Debbie Feinstein, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in a statement.

Even after the switchover, Family Dollar will still have 7,800 stores in nearly every state in the country. That number could dwindle further, though, as Dollar Tree has said it plans to rebrand at least a handful of Family Dollar stores as Dollar Trees, as an experiment. Dollar Tree itself currently has some 5,000 locations, so it would have to rebanner at least 1,400 Family Dollar stores in order for the parent company to gain store-count parity with its new acquisition.

However it all plays out, the store sales to Sycamore cap a tumultuous battle for Family Dollar that began last year. Soon after Dollar Tree announced its intention to acquire Family Dollar, rival Dollar General swooped in with its own offer. After much back and forth, and some fighting words from both sides, Dollar Tree prevailed. Retail analysts had estimated that Dollar General would have had to close or sell some 4,000 stores in order for the deal to go through, and Dollar General had strongly hinted that it would eventually convert the remaining Family Dollar locations to Dollar Generals.

That won’t happen now, as all three major dollar store chains will continue to operate under their current names. And all three plan to continue opening new stores at a rapid pace. The only difference is, there will be a smaller, upstart new competitor in the mix. Sycamore hasn’t said much about what Family Dollar shoppers can expect after their stores are converted to Dollar Express. Will selection, prices, policies, store layouts and employees remain the same? We don’t know just yet.

TL;DR:  In the very near future, a NEW dollar store chain called Dollar Express (from the owners of Aeropostale, Coldwater Creek and Talbots) will be popping up in many states across the nation.

What all of this means in terms of a new option for budget beauty remains to be seen. But I'm always excited by the prospect of a new retailer for discounted beauty products, so I'm looking forward to hearing from YOU once this new chain opens (I would report on it myself, but it looks like the closest stores in my area will be 200+ miles away!).

To view the complete list of the 300+ Family Dollar stores that were sold to Sycamore (and that will become Dollar Express stores in the near future), CLICK HERE.