In recent years, Family Dollar has made some commotion in the business news world, from
structural changes, to an unexpectedly positive outlook during the COVID-19 pandemic. But there's
a lot you don't know about this popular chain of stores. This is the untold truth of Family Dollar.
Many people in their early 20s are most likely in school or working entry-level jobs,
not opening what would be the first of thousands of stores across the country
with one simple concept: Nothing is more than $2.
But Leon Levine, the Family Dollar founder, was not without experience in the discount
shop game. As a kid, Levine and his brothers worked in their father's department store,
a shop called The Hub. Then, a series of events threw Levine into a more demanding role.
His father died in 1949, and his brother was drafted into the Korean War. A teenage Leon
was soon running The Hub and was even vice president of the store from 1954 to 1957.
During his vice presidency, Levine and his brother bought a bedspread factory
called Union Craft Company. This was near Wingate College in North Carolina, where
Leon attended business classes in the morning before running the factory in the afternoon.
By 1959, Levine had sold the bedspread factory and made one important trip,
he visited a dollar store in Kentucky. Inspired, Levine, now married and a father,
opened the first Family Dollar later that year at the age of 22.
Founder Leon Le vine started the Family Dollar chain in November 1959 with its
first location in Charlotte, North Carolina. Levine opened the store with about $6,000.
According to the Family Dollar website, the only other concept Levine was shooting for,
aside from all the products being $2 or less, was the idea that the customer should always be happy.
Soon, Levine had four stores in the Charlotte area. Then, Family Dollar had expanded into
South Carolina by 1961, underselling the shore stores at Myrtle Beach in swimwear and towels.
By 1967, Family Dollar had 27 stores operating in four states in the southeast,
with annual sales reaching more than $5 million.
"My family dollar is a one stop shooooop!"
The 1960s was a time of major growth for Family Dollar and its founder. Meanwhile,
the 1970s started with another milestone, Family Dollar went public as a company.
But even though the young chain had opened its 100th store in 1971,
soon to be followed by its 200th store, the decade would prove to be a challenge.
By the mid-70s, major shifts in the American textile industry had major effects on Family
Dollar's southeastern-based consumers. As workers in the furniture, textile,
and tobacco industries were laid off, the discount store began to first see declining sales,
dropping as much as 50 percent in 1974 and 1975.
But the scrappy chain put together new marketing, began to relax its reputation for selling items
for less than $3, and added an electronic data processing system. Things soon stabilized.
In the end, Family Dollar was fine, annual sales flew past $100 million by 1977.
"If somebody called me cheap I'd take that as a compliment. That
means we're looking for value. That means we don't overpay for stuff."
As anyone could guess, the 1990s spelled success for the business. Family Dollar's
yearly sales exceeded $1 billion by 1992, a second distribution center was opened in 1994, and the
chain circled back to its hometown of Charlotte to open store number 2,500. By the new century,
annual sales had surpassed $3 billion, and in 2001, the business was added to the S&P 500 Index.
Therefore, it's no surprise that by 2002, Family Dollar became a member of the Fortune 500 list.
This would also be one of the last milestones founder Leon Levine would see as the head honcho.
He would retire the following year, with his son Howard R. Levine, taking over as CEO.
In 2014, Family Dollar announced its agreement to merge with Dollar Tree
and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the discount store giant by July 6th, 2015.
But the merger was not without drama. According to The Charlotte Observer,
there was a hostile bid to take over Family Dollar from another discount retailer, Dollar General.
In the end, though, Dollar Tree won out. At the time, the Dollar Tree and Family
Dollar merger meant the combined company would pull in annual sales of more than $19 billion,
all while overseeing more than 13,000 stores. Because of the number of locations,
the joint company is the United States' largest dollar-store chain.
On a recent news search of Family Dollar, headlines tell of attacked employees,
shootings, and car accidents. According to a recent article,
discount chains like Family Dollar have become magnets for crime and killing in some areas.
The high frequency of these crimes may also be attributed to the sheer number of stores.
Family Dollar now has more than 8,000 locations. However, there is often a retail
void in poor and working-class communities. In 2019, discount chains accounted for more
than half of all retail stores opening. Therefore, in these lower socio-economic,
often high-crime neighborhoods, there just aren't other businesses for criminals to target.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic devastated certain industries,
including the service industry, but discount chains in the U.S. have fared relatively well.
As coronavirus-related quarantines and business shutdowns began in March, both Dollar Tree and
Family Dollar stores were considered essential businesses and were permitted to remain open.
As a result, both stores saw a huge uptick in sales, with items like cleaning supplies,
sanitizer, household products, paper goods, food, and medicine practically flying off the shelves.
For this reason, renovation plans for several of the stores had to be temporarily suspended.
However, sales continued to see a steady incline, even as all 15,000-plus stores
began closing at 8 p.m. in order to limit exposure to associates, start on new cleaning protocols,
and restock shelves with essential products. By the end of the first quarter on May 28th,
Family Dollar had opened 99 new stores, renovated or relocated 21 stores,
and closed 14. As a result, sales for Family Dollar increased by 15.5 percent.
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