Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar for more than $8 billion almost a decade ago after a bidding war with rival Dollar General, but has had difficulty absorbing the chain.Â
The budget retailer announced it plans to close around 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of this year, and 370 of its 8,000 locations over the next several years.
It will also shut 30 Dollar Tree stores over the next few years at the end of each store’s current lease term, but did not announce which locations would be affected.
It comes weeks after the company was slapped with a $41.7 million fine after pleading guilty to selling food, cosmetics and personal care items from rodent-infested warehouse.
The budget retailer announced it plans to close around 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of this year, and 370 of its 8,000 locations over the next several years
The plans to shut underperforming stores comes as Dollar Tree announced it had lost $1.71 billion in the three months ending February 3.
Shares in the company fell more than 14 percent following the announcement to their lowest level this year.
‘This dramatic cull is the coup de grâce in the rather botched acquisition of the Family Dollar chain, which has caused Dollar Tree nothing but hassle since it was completed back in 2015,’ Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, told the Associated Press.
‘Basically, almost ten years on, Dollar Tree is still sifting through the mess it inherited and has not been able to completely turn around,’ he said.
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