Probably what will happen is the same thing that happened to five and dime stores. There was a type of store called that which existed in the U.S. from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. At that point, there was still a lot of stuff that could be sold for prices between five cents and ten cents. Gradually it became impossible to sell things at prices that low, but the name stuck around. Such stores retained that name even though nothing in such stores was anywhere near that price. People knew that perfectly well but continued to use that name.
Hallmark has a 99 cent line of cards at pretty much every drug store.
That actually works for some people who only need enough wrapping paper for one present, or someone who lives alone and doesn’t need a gallon container of a condiment and won’t consume it all before it goes bad.
But, of course, there’s a difference between someone making a conscious choice for the smaller unit and someone who would be better off with a different size/unit but isn’t comparison shopping or able to get to somewhere with a better deal.
I’ll hit the dollar store type places for certain items, but I’m probably not the typical shopper.
I think eventually they will simply add more expensive items, keeping the same name–so they will be comparable to Dollar General.
However before then there is a great deal possible in simply eliminating the items they can no longer afford to sell for $1 and adding new ones that they can and in reducing the size of the items they sell.
We use Dollar Tree on vacations, especially road trips. We don’t need a 38 oz. bottle of Ketchup or a 300 sq. ft. roll of tin foil.
actually, at family dollar who is owned by dollar tree aka Greenbriar international inc … there’s a marketing strategy at work there
Family Dollar is just an upscale front for a basic dollar tree
Sure they have name brand stuff at name brand prices but if you ever look closely they’ll have about 6 jars of jif peanut butter but 32 of their dollar tree brand with a big "only a 1.00 " label sticking out … that way they sucker the snooty types who would think “ugh a dollar store is for the poors” into buying the same thing others would be buying in a dollar tree
Although I admit I did find a serviceable shopping trolley for 12.95 when everyone else wanted 25+ for the same thing
It’s been awhile since I’ve been in a Family Dollar, but I certainly never got the impression that they were “upscale” or that their customer base was “snooty types who think a dollar store is for the poors.”
Yeah. The local Family Dollar looks exactly like the local Dollar Tree.
It’s worth noting that there are at least three (maybe more) “dollar” stores. Family Dollar, Dollar Tree and Dollar General. Dollar General is the more expensive of the three. Not everything is $1.
Manufacturers (most is China) know there is a huge market for any goods sold for around 50 cents wholesale, and are constantly exploring and designing products that can be made for 25 cents a unit. This is typical keystone pricing (Wholesale is double cost and retail is double wholesale) only at a very low end. As long as dollar stores exist, factories will continue to churn out product that comes in under that 25 cent cost per unit.
It’s not been mentioned yet that not everthing there is a good deal for $1.
8 pack strips of fun sized candy bars can be as cheap as 88 cents at walmart. Bottlex water and generic snack items can be found for way less than a buck.
I lived off Dollar Tree at times in my life, but i only go for the few deals I’ve figured out now.
Trial sized toothpaste and dish soap is a better deal than the big bottle from the grocery store. Two 20ft rolls of parchment paper beats the 40 ft roll at Dollar General.
A jar of Planters Peanuts from Dollar General is not the same as the same jar of Planters peanuts from the grocery store. The DG jar is not specially labeled. Open a jar of each at the same time, there’s a big difference.
And they water things down. Literally.
We had a Family Dollar open near here and I went in to look at the place and bought a can each of salmon and tuna to see what I got. What I got was a lot of added water and considerably less salmon and tuna in the can than the size of can would indicate.
Will not buy again.
Generally the quality and/or quantity is worse. Some of their items are actually overpriced for $1.
I get most of my tools (hammers, screwdrivers, packing tape, etc) at Dollar Tree and similar stores. The quality isn’t fantastic, but usually it is quite good enough. And if it breaks, I don’t mind replacing it.
Stationery too, to a lesser extent.
There are some items that I simply cannot find anywhere other than such a store. Top of my list is a 100 yard spool of green garden ties - you know, the wire in plastic that they seal a loaf of bread with? I use that for all sorts of stuff around the house. It’s often even better than duct tape - and removable!
Holy Crap! Did I call it! Although this article says certain locations were selling higher priced items as early as 2019, I swear I’d never seen or heard of it. According to this article, Dollar Tree will be introducing more items in the $3-5 range, in a special section of the store, and calling it Dollar Tree Plus. I’m Retail Nostradamus!
Of course it’s not going to be possible to continue to sell items in a store at the same price over a long time or to choose a name that accurately reflects those prices if the name is unchanged over time. The average amount of inflation in the U.S. from 1914 to the present has been 3.4% per year. (There was on average a certain amount of inflation from 1790 to 1914, but it was less. It was harder to measure back then. It appears to be somewhere between .5% and 1.0% per year on average back then.) That comes to prices doubling approximately every 21 years since 1914. Stores used to be named five and dime stores, but that couldn’t continue forever. Then they were named dollar stores, but that couldn’t continue forever either. Now there’s a store called Five Below, but that can’t continue forever either.
They already gave up.
five below is one of the fastest growing value retailers on the planet, offering high-quality products loved by tweens, teens and more, with extreme $1-$5 value, plus some incredible finds that go beyond $5.
And in about 207 years from now we can expect that instead of dollar stores, there will be stores with names like Only a Grand that will boast that everything in them costs less than $1000.
Around here at least, I think some people go to the Dollar General because it’s more convenient than going to Target or Walmart. Even if I know I can save .12 cents on a pack of candy bars by going to Walmart, I’ll pay the difference at Dollar Tree just so I can zip in and out quickly instead of getting the Walmart experience. But there are also a lot of areas in rural Arkansas where your only option is the Dollar General or a gas station unless you want to drive pretty far.
Dollar General planted a store location right in front of Walmart headquarters in Bentonville. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when I saw that.
Perhaps the thing these stores will do when they can’t sell things for a dollar any more, will be to drop the word “dollar” from their name.
I’ve been noticing recently that all the former Dollar General stores around here have changed their name to “DG market”.
https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1gfDyH.img
This may just follow from their business plan, which now seems to include selling fresh food and other groceries like Walmart and Target do.
ETA: DG’s re-branding does appear to be nation-wide. I am seeing these in my area of California, but the above article about the Rittman store appears to be in Ohio.