TEN discount stores announced they’re closing their doors for good, citing the shoplifting epidemic as the final nail in the coffin.
Ohio’s retail market has taken a major hit as 35 closures across the state have been announced by the state’s Department of Jobs and Family Services.
Of those 35 closures, 10 of them are Dollar Tree and Family Dollar Locations – marking another blow to dollar stores in the US.
The Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services issued a warning on the closures saying Dollar Tree and Family Dollar “will attempt to offer positions at nearby stores to employees of the closing stores who express interest in new positions.”
Dollar Tree announced last month that it would close about 15% of its Family Dollar locations, totaling the closures of roughly 1,000 stores.
Along with this, about 30 Dollar Tree stores will also close their doors for good.
The company said the closures stemmed from locations that have been deemed unprofitable and issues of inflation and cuts to food stamps.
“Over recent years, rates of shopping around have increased, and we believe that they will only increase further in the years ahead as other chains like Walmart, Aldi, and Dollar General continue to expand,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, told CBS News in an email about Dollar Tree.
There were plans to open more than 300 Family Dollar stores as recently as December 2023, however, executives said that customers are spending less at stores while shoplifting is at an all-time high.
Meanwhile, recent cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) have forced shoppers to make serious budgeting decisions.
The cost of groceries has also gone up by 25% since the pandemic.
“[T]his inflationary environment we’ve lived in for the last couple years has been a shock,” said Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos in a conference call.
Shoppers have also expressed frustration with rising costs as some items have soared as high as $7.
It comes after the price cap increased to $5 in June 2023 – two years after the $1 cap jumped to $1.25 in 2021.
Dollar Tree CEO Rick Deiling said in a call to investors that prices would range from $1,50 to $7 across 3,000 Dollar Tree locations.
“This year, across 3,000 stores, we expect to expand our multi-price assortment by over 300 items at price points ranging from $1.50 to $7,” he said.
Many customers have complained that the retailer is taking advantage of a boom in high earners.
Last year, Dollar Tree received 3.4 million customers and most were from households making more than $125,000 annually, said Dreiling”We are continuously working on new ways to deliver value, while expanding our assortment across a wider range of price points,” he added.
But shoppers aren’t as impressed with one writing on social media: “If it ain’t a dollar, why bother?”
“If I made that much ($125,000) a year, I wouldn’t be shopping at Dollar Tree,” wrote another.
“Tell people to stop stealing items that are $1.25 and going on shoplifting raids – that’s why your prices are going up,” said one customer.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Dollar Tree for comment.
