Dollar Tree, an American multi-price-point chain of discount variety store, on April 3, 2024, in Sherwood Park, Strathcona County, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Despite what’s conveyed in its name, Dollar Tree is raising the prices of its items.
The discount franchise known for selling household, food and personal care items for $1 each has announced it’s raised it cap price to $7.
“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,” Dollar Tree Chairman and CEO Rick Dreiling said during a fourth-quarter earnings call for the company earlier this month.
This comes on the heels on the news that Dollar Tree will be closing nearly 1,000 of its Family Dollar stores after the stores underperformed in 2023, per figures shared in a company press release, as ESSENCE previously reported.
It stated that during the fourth quarter of 2023, Dollar Tree reviewed its stores and concluded the best next step was closure, relocation or re-bannering based on results.
“As a result of this review, we plan on closing approximately 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of fiscal 2024. Additionally, approximately 370 Family Dollar and 30 Dollar Tree stores will close over the next several years at the end of each store’s current lease term,” the company shared in the press release.
The store closures and price cap jump denotes not only a shift in the company’s growth strategy, but also the strong ripples of inflation.
Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 3.2 percent over the last 12 months.
To put this into perspective, it now takes a extra $13,000 per year for the average American purchase the same services they maintained three years ago.
