Title: Dollar Tree is closing almost 400 Family Dollar stores this year - Vox
Headings: Family Dollar was once considered “Amazon-proof.” Now it’s closing hundreds of stores.
Family Dollar was once considered “Amazon-proof.” Now it’s closing hundreds of stores.
The retail apocalypse has finally hit the dollar store.
Why Dollar Tree is struggling
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Content: The two stores used to be rival discount chains, but in 2015, Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar for $8.5 billion. The acquisition gave Dollar Tree a total of 13,000 stores total, in the US and Canada, with about $19 billion in yearly revenue. Folding these two companies together has not been easy, though, and analysts have said that Family Dollar has become more of a problem for Dollar Tree than a winning addition to its portfolio. With the announcement that it was closing almost 400 stores, the company reported a $2.3 billion loss. This most recent round of closures is just another addition to the pileup of brands shuttering stores, filing for bankruptcy, and going out of business. Brick-and-mortar stores are struggling, as they fail to face off with online competitors, and are stuck with tons of stores that have high rent prices. Even discount retailers like Dollar Tree, once hailed as the antidote to Amazon, must figure out how to keep stores afloat. Why Dollar Tree is struggling
There are a handful of discount retailers in the US, including Dollar General, 99 Cents Only, and Five Below. But while fellow off-price retail stores like T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s thrive on a chaotic environment, where stores are jam-packed with a sometimes disorganized array of discounted products, shoppers have pointed out that Dollar Tree and Family Dollar are often disappointing destinations. The chains are plagued with empty shelves and messy stores.