The RISE and FALL of Dollar Stores

Over the last few decades, dollar stores reached seemingly unstoppable momentum, dwarfing giants like Walmart and McDonalds in terms of numbers, but now they’re shutting down. We're wondering why that is and what that means for us into the future...

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Script: Holly Maley
Editor: Matthew Veal
Project Manager: Lurana McClure Rodríguez
Host: Levi Hildebrand

[the_rubbish_bin]

I was in Dollar Tree yesterday and the store looked barren. The cashier said they were low on manpower. I said I know someone looking for a job. He said they had plenty of people who _want_ to work, but corporate won't give them enough hours. Just a shitty business model.

[robinoconnor]

As a retired teacher, I can definitely say that a good chunk of my paychecks went to Dollar Tree. Mostly classroom supplies, but pretty much everything else as well. Most of my teacher friends were the same. Now, the new baby teachers aren't using their paycheck to fund their classroom. They're also far, far more willing to just walk away from the job. Yes, the system is dysfunctional as hell and more power to them.

[KarmasAB]

Levi: "Let's take a moment of silence"

Youtube: "Sounds like a good time for an ad break"

[rinna]

It's astonishing how shareholders and ceos and whoever go all pikachu face when it turns out that the cancerous eternal growth business model turns out to be not so eternal.

[jackbruno]

I was a worker for our local dollar tree at one point. It was 50 cents higher than minimum wage. I had to quit and find another job that paid better because I absolutely could not pay my rent and bills and also feed myself.

[sweetkitty]

Even the Goodwill has jacked up their prices to ridiculous level. I stopped donating to them. I give items to a small store that helps veterans.

[vvitch-mist]

I've been shopping in dollar stores since I was a kid, and the dumbest thing they ever did was stop being a dollar. Dollar Tree going up by 25% was the biggest insult in the world.

[PolarisMidnightSoldierLux]

Former Dollar Tree employee here, the managers are treated like slaves there. One time I saw my manager have an emotional breakdown over the phone with the district manager about our chronic shortstaffing and towers of boxes in the break room. They quietly let me go during my study abroad even though it was okayed 🤣

[KRich]

My theory is the CEOs are not seeing the profits they want. This is typical to pull the plug on things when they can't increase their financial portfolio enough off the consumer.

[Scarhand]

Current Dollar Tree manager here that literally just put in my two-weeks notice. Just wanted to add to the video.

First, the thing I think y'all will find the most interesting, DT is also failing as a concept. The stores that are staying are abandoning the idea of selling everything for $1(.25).
The store I work at became the first in the district (iirc) to become a "Dollar Tree Plus". This meant that there were 3 prices for items: $1.25, $3.00, and $5.00 (plus some rare items for less than a dollar), with the more expensive items in their own section. Simple. Since then, various suppliers have raised their prices to match. Known brands like Coke, Pepsi and Redbull increased their prices to range from $1.75-$4.00 and their products are found throughout the store. Apparently there are plans for other brands to follow suit; every section will haphazardly have more expensive items by the standard ones. The thing that kinda broke me, though, was a couple weeks ago we got a new item. 19" box fans. For $20.
Dollar Tree is dead. What you see now are just walking corpses.

Second, I just want to touch on how the place is run. We currently have 12 employees (around 6 people have left in the past year), all but 3 being part-time, generally only have 2 working at a time, have a hard time meeting corporate's unreasonable expectations, highly variable hours with tight shift changes (our cashiers need to be on register as soon as they walk in and stay on register to the last second of their shift, which is our Store Manager's fault), and we recently got an email from higher up saying, "Stop asking for more hours. Use them better." There's also constant theft and a nearby homeless camp (though I partially blame the city for that one). I'll also mention here that most of the employees need the job. I was flat broke, literally $0, when I started, and get a constant stream of sob stories involving shitty apartments, broken cars, and way too many expensive health issues. My most constant comment is "Jesus Christ, y'all are falling apart." All except for our Store Manager, who's the same but also somehow goes on a pair of week long vacations every year. Kinda fucked up to discuss that in front of the guys that can't afford a car, dude.

As for me, it's been entertaining, at least. It's honestly the shitty customers and bad scheduling that's irritated me the most. Up until the price hiking I was happy with a decent selection of our products, though to be fair I was raised on the stuff. (Something, something, cycle of poverty.) I've been cutting A LOT of corners in my personal life, but I'm in decent health and have enough savings now to last for months without a job. So I'm heading out and plan to live a little before getting back on the grind. And with the extra time, I can definitely hunt for a better position.

Anyway, I'll get off my soap box. Thanks for reading and awesome video.

[casualsuede]

People want cheap stuff, not cheap crap.

[story]

Dollar tree helped me set up my first apartment kitchen (dishes, silverware etc) back in the day but I always wondered how they could ever afford to sell me a plate for a dollar. Over the years I began to realize that so much if what they sell is actually LESS than a dollar at other stores and that much of the food (which I didn't buy, but I know many of my low income students did) was also over priced when you factored in things like net weight. It's just so many of us have poor financial literacy, have never been taught to budget and/or are living pay check to pay check and so the quick cheaper option just works better, especially for some of my students who did not have the ability to get to the real grocery store in town. They couldn't afford bus passes and didn't have cars, a few didn't even have bikes and the walk (with groceries in tow) was easily 30-40 minutes by foot one way, but the dollar store was 10 minutes tops. I did eventually stop shopping there and I try to convince others who can do so as well. I'm also a proponent of teaching others about local food banks and consignment shops to help make healthier choices than the dollar stores. Oh and I eventually replaced that dishware with newer (and surprisingly lighter) items. I got a little freaked out about their safety and quality. There's a lot of lead paint and other freaky low quality crap in those stores. Yet another reason to try and help folks find alternatives when possible.

[mathiasjensen]

In Denmark shopping locally is such an integrated part of the country. Big chains are more franchises than big stores, where the onces owning these stores sponsor local events and more. Money and growth is so integrated into America

[horrorghoul]

I live in a food desert with a dollar general and I shop there a lot. The best tactic is to use the coupons on the app and combine it with shopping on the Saturdays for $5 off $25. You'll save a lot. They also have weekly ads. It's doable to buy from them without breaking the bank

[rainaraspberry]

i commented this on your other videos as well, but if there has been a shift to ending these videos on a more positive note, i’ve definitely felt it. your videos make me feel more empowered to keep being better and not give up. thank you.

[bethlovesben]

Dollar stores aren’t closing because they’re failing. They’re closing stores because the market is oversaturated. That can happen within any market. There are simply too many stores.

I’m not on the side of the inhumane practices, but they are not failing. When they shrink stores and there’s less internal competition, they’ll bounce back financially.

Realize they also compete with Walmart, who is also very aggressive with their prices.

However, the video is correct about how the system fails us as a whole. But, it won’t be ending anytime soon.

[Dretroz]

They also have that big issue where recently they were outed for items being more expensive at the register than advertised on shelves.

[grantmillard]

Unfortunately, people often cannot afford to make the best choices for society's long term benefit. They have to make the best choices they can for their own immediate survival. Telling them to buy local exhibits an ignorance of the level of the general public's current and growing desperation.

While people in the US scream that their government is trying to disarm them by taking away their guns they are actually being disarmed by an economy that is taking away the strength of their choices.

[hellzbelle]

Dollar stores were cute when I was a kid because they were novel. Even then, I wasn’t buying “serious” stuff, just things like snacks and cheap lip gloss. Fast forward to today when my neighborhood is overrun with them, and while I still use them for cheap gift bags, party supplies, and other things I occasionally need on short notice or for short-term use, they now seem to be the standard replacement for drug stores, grocers, and other businesses that are much more useful. They aren’t a terrible idea in themselves, but they’re too plentiful and will never be a real substitute for truly essential businesses. The main artery near me has three Family Dollar stores and two Dollar Trees within about a mile and a half!

[LuluZ]

I had a friend who worked for a dollar store and the manager used to take all the additional shifts and only allowed herself to clock in overtime. She restricted shifts for others. I didn’t realize poor treatment of employees was a dollar store endemic