Forget The Name, Dollar Tree Stores Selling Items Above The $1 Barrier
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — The amount is embedded in the very name of Dollar Tree stores and lets shoppers know everything inside can be had for just $1... but that's about to change.
The mantra to which the company has held true for decades will now be only mostly true.
After expanding nationwide from only a handful of stores in Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia, Dollar Tree is breaking the mold and will sell items in some locations that exceed the tantalizing $1 grab-n-go price.
The cost of clothes, cars, food and just about everything else has soared this year as the global economy emerges from a pandemic uppercut and Dollar Tree has not been untouched.
Last month the retail chain said that rising shipping costs would take a bite of $1.50 to $1.60 out of its per-share profits this year. That's a huge hit for any business, perhaps more so for one founded decades ago steadfastly calling itself "Only $1.00 Inc."
"For decades, our customers have enjoyed the 'thrill-of-the-hunt' for value at one dollar - and we remain committed to that core proposition - but many are telling us that they also want a broader product assortment when they come to shop," said CEO Michael Witynski in a prepared statement.
Raising some prices will certainly give the national chain -- which has some 650 locations in Texas alone -- some flexibility and likely more variety on its shelves. But a dollar this year will not buy you what it did in 2020.
Annual inflation in the U.S. reached 4.2% in July, the highest in three decades. And this week in an appearance before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that price increases have worsened amid snarled supply chains and rising labor costs.
That has hit businesses of every type, perhaps especially one that has held the line at $1 for decades.
The company had already begun testing higher prices at several hundred of its nearly 8,000 locations in a section of the store called "Dollar Tree Plus" with items that can go for as much as $5. Items that can go for $1.25 to $1.50 will soon be found in the mix at some locations amid the typical assortment of $1 products.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
(Originally Posted 9/29/2021)