Family Dollar Stores Make Their Move Coming Into The Stretch
Posted: Saturday, September 17, 2011
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
Family Dollar Stores was founded in November of 1959 by a young man, Leon Levine, at age 21. The company headquarters are in Matthews, North Carolina. His first store was opened in Charlotte, North Carolina. Two years later one was opened in South Carolina and from there they moved into Georgia and Virginia in 1962 and 1965. By 1969, there were 50 of their stores in Charlotte alone.
In the 1990’s another thousand stores were opened, and as of August, 2011, they have 7,000 stores in 44 states. Plus they have distribution centers in 8 locations from New York to Iowa.
In 2001, Family Dollar joined the S&P 500 stock market index. In 2002, the company joined the Fortune 500 list of largest publicly held companies.
Leon Levine retired in 2003 and his son, Howard R. Levine, succeeded him as Chairman and CEO of the now multi-billion dollar company.
I have given you the background of this company to let you see the phenomenal growth of the company so I can tell you a little more about their present operations.
In a recent period Wal-Mart began a cost cutting program to reduce their vast variety of stocks. One of their greatest drawing cards has been their extremely attractive selection of products. As they began eliminating some of the least profitable merchandise, many customers began complaining. All retailers have undergone a drop in revenue during the current economic recession.
Just how much this may or may not have influenced the Family Dollar Store chain to begin an increased volume of new items, especially in the grocery, drugs and sundries areas, is questionable but it has occurred nevertheless. They still do not have the vast floor space and capacity to stock loads of merchandise, but they have made an amazingly helpful increase in selections. Their prices are very competitive and in some cases here and there, are actually lower than Wal-mart.
Since the nearest Wal-mart to us in our location is 14 miles, and the Family Dollar store is less than one mile, much of our monthly supplies are now being made here and It is quite surprising to find most of the items, including house or name brands of those things we need regularly.
I am writing this article only to encourage more people who normally pass by the Family Dollar Stores, to just drop in and take a look. They are not paying me to write this, in fact they don’t know that I exist. But I have found it surprisingly pleasant to find so many of our regular purchases, so near home and so very competitively priced. I suspect that some areas will begin to see much larger stores in the near future, under the Family Dollar name.
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