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CEO Rick Dreiling said in the call that the higher-cost items will include food, pet, and personal care items.
“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,” Dreiling said.
Dreiling also shared during the call the majority of the items sold will remain at the fixed price point; however, over time they will integrate multi-price items.
“Our shoppers will find $5 bags of dog food next to our traditional $1.25 pet treats and toys, and our $3 bags of candy will be found in the candy aisle,” he said.
According to the store’s executive, the discount store’s customer demographic is shifting toward people with higher incomes.
To those who shop at Dollar tree is this welcome news? is DT going in the right direction will it negatively affect low income folks shop there now that they are moving towards higher prices?
Their original Schematics of "everything for one price" was the draw in for consumers.
With these variables in costs- It will be a tough sell for the thrift shoppers who WERE Their already loyal clients.
An old saying holds true- Your best clients are the ones YOU Already Have. Loyalty hasn't changed.
They are turning into a Dollar General- Which started out under the same premise.
I often think of the days of K-MART- These two stores mentioned above are the step sisters of this marketing style.
I can't imagine with shelf space already limited how they will Bump out certain products and increase pricing to draw in more of the Supposed - Medium income.
So far I've only seen this in the fridge/freezer section, and only in one door of the section, where they have cut back on some other items.
I actually think it might be a plus because they now have some smaller 'family meal' size items, like chicken nuggets, that are budget friendly. Not saying that they are good buys, because at the price per unit they aren't a deal. But if you're on a tight budget and only have $Xxx to spend it's convenient to be able to get some meat on the table for cheap.
I've been tempted once or twice to pick up some of those $3-5 frozen items if I happen to be there while I'm running errands late in the day. It's convenient to pick up, it's cheap and it's fast to prepare when I'm too tired to really cook.
I will take the 'wait and see' approach. I shop there for candles, cheap make-up, greeting cards and notepads. If those go up slightly, I will still buy those, but I can't see shopping there for anything else at this point.
Btw, I do NOT buy any of their food because it is not really that good of a value, as the food items are either the same price as grocery stores or they are package in very small quantity for the price point, and the candy -- which i don't buy, anyway -- is just the same price as many other places. Also, the $1.25 housewares are VERY poor quality, so unless the quality goes up, I won't buy their housewares, either (except for mugs and drinking glasses, which are a bargain at $1.25).
I will take the 'wait and see' approach. I shop there for candles, cheap make-up, greeting cards and notepads. If those go up slightly, I will still buy those, but I can't see shopping there for anything else at this point.
Btw, I do NOT buy any of their food because it is not really that good of a value, as the food items are either the same price as grocery stores or they are package in very small quantity for the price point, and the candy -- which i don't buy, anyway -- is just the same price as many other places. Also, the $1.25 housewares are VERY poor quality, so unless the quality goes up, I won't buy their housewares, either (except for mugs and drinking glasses, which are a bargain at $1.25).
For the most part that's probably true, but there are some exceptions.
For example, their big bags of GRIM's white cheddar popcorn can't be beat, even going up from $1.25 to $1.50.
The next best deal is Kroger's house brand with half the size and calories for $1.59, and DT is out of stock on the white cheddar variant less often than is Kroger (at least from what I see in the Houston metro)
( I am staying away from those big bags right now though....counting calories, net carbs, and grams of protein....strict totals on the minimum protein and the average net carbs and calories....and no cookies (nor the Walmart Choc. Chip Chewy granola bars I liked).....and I've lost 28.4 lbs in 8 weeks)
So far I've only seen this in the fridge/freezer section, and only in one door of the section, where they have cut back on some other items.
I actually think it might be a plus because they now have some smaller 'family meal' size items, like chicken nuggets, that are budget friendly. Not saying that they are good buys, because at the price per unit they aren't a deal. But if you're on a tight budget and only have $Xxx to spend it's convenient to be able to get some meat on the table for cheap.
I've been tempted once or twice to pick up some of those $3-5 frozen items if I happen to be there while I'm running errands late in the day. It's convenient to pick up, it's cheap and it's fast to prepare when I'm too tired to really cook.
Our local Dollar Tree has a "Dollar Tree Plus" aisle with higher-priced items. I presume these are mostly located in more affluent stores.
Our local Dollar Tree has a "Dollar Tree Plus" aisle with higher-priced items. I presume these are mostly located in more affluent stores.
That's the section they are referring to. Many Dollar Trees' have added that section but some never realize it existed. What this the $7 increase covers is their decision to expand that section beyond a single aisle to maybe 2 or three aisles. They will still be selling their dollar (1.25) items but also offering higher priced items of larger sizes, better quality or something that just cost more to make.
If anyone shopped at any of the 99.9 cents stores on the west coast, you will remember when they went from 99 cents to 99.9 cents and soon started adding the $3, $4 and $5 items. They didn't drop the 99 cents stuff, just added some more items that came at a higher price.
The whole idea turns me off because then they'll just be another version of Dollar General - we are drowning in those where I live and blech. Dollar Tree was fun because you could find really good things. BUT even since they went $1.25 some things are shrinking badly and some are supplied by new companies that make things cheaper, so I was on the way off them before now.
Maybe with the higher priced items they can use the profits to hire some cashiers to run the registers.
We actually have a new Dollar Tree near me, but I have put my items back and walked out the last two times I went
in there because I am not going to wait in line behind 10 people. Nothing Dollar Tree has that I want that bad. Four registers up front, but always just one cashier working, and god help you if someone ahead of you in line wants a bunch of birthday balloons blown up...........
Maybe they could staff their stores if they paid more than $8 an hour.
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I am staying away from those big bags right now though....counting calories, net carbs, and grams of protein....strict totals on the minimum protein and the average net carbs and calories....and no cookies (nor the Walmart Choc. Chip Chewy granola bars I liked).....and I've lost 28.4 lbs in 8 weeks)