A new Dollar Tree store is under construction at the Evergreen Square Shopping Center in Woodbury, at the corner of Evergreen Ave and Red Bank Ave. This is two blocks from the former Inspira Hospital on Broad Street.
As part of the lease signing it appears the property owners are building out the signature tall curved Dollar Tree entrance, and upgrading the façade for the remainder of that building.
The second building to the left houses a Family Dollar store, and it is unclear to us at this time if that building will also be upgraded.
We expect that Family Dollar to remain open. Read on for more of the two brands which operate under the same parent company.
This is becoming a more common pattern for the company in having both brands in the same center (such as in Blackwood), and in same cases they are building combined stores.
Dollar Tree Growth
There are Dollar Tree Stores located throughout this area of Gloucester County, and this one fits into a small hole where none exist. We really don’t expect this to impact any of the other Dolllar Tree stores.
Currently there are stores a few miles away from this new location with two on Route 45, two in nearby Deptford, and Brooklawn is not too far away.
It seems the cost to build out a Dollar Tree store is relatively inexpensive, current retail rates are dropping, and Dollar Tree already has a warehousing and distribution network in the area which can support the addition of additional stores.
The Dollar Tree company also includes the Family Dollar brand.
Last Thursday Dollar Tree presented their quarterly earnings update to Wall Street, and after a recent downturn of the stock, the Dollar Tree stock popped 21.87% in one day!
They expect sales for the year to cross over $27 Billion!
People comment on the 42Freeway Facebook page will ask “Why so many dollar stores? We need an _____”
Well the reality is consumers speak with their dollars, and a LOT of them are being spent at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar.
Dollar Tree Stores: The Dollar Twenty Five Dollar Store
The Family Dollar and Dollar Tree brands have always had distinctive marketing strategies.
Dollar Tree was always a very crisp “Everything is a dollar” store, and Family Dollar was a more broader general merchandise store at a variety or prices (in the category of Dollar General)
But things became a little more cloudy at the start of this year, when the “Everything’s a $1” slogan was basically tossed to the side, and the dollar items became priced at $1.25.
My Triton math skills tell me that should be an almost immediate 25% increase in total revenue for the Dollar Tree brand. (This is not investment advice!)
But consider that Dollar Tree has held on to the “Everything’s a $1” model since they started in 1986 as “Only $1.00” stores.
Factor in how inflation has increased in 35 years it’s amazing Dollar Tree made it so long on just a buck!
So yes, an obvious key point of the increase is that things just cost more today. Significantly more.
Dollar Tree points out that the higher price point gives them flexibility to bring in additional products which they couldn’t support before with pricing previously locked at one dollar.
The last part of the pricing change gets a little confusing to me… well they have an extended brand of store called Dollar Tree Plus, where prices can go even higher. Up to $3 or $5! And even some of the $1.25 items were $1.50.
This was done to support higher priced products, such as electronic items.
My confusion is it seems there have been a series of changes in the last 9 months and I am not 100% sure where some of the pricing decisions have landed today.
The initial commentary last year that I saw seemed to say that they were creating a separate Plus store for the higher priced items and leaving Dollar Tree alone.
Then they quickly decided after that, that all Dollar Tree stores would bump $1 items to $1.25, but the Plus stores could still offer additional $3 or $5 products.
Well now I see additional media outlets saying that all Dollar Tree stores will be changed into offering a variety of more expensive items but with the bulk of the product being $1.25.
But I don’t think it needs to be clear to me… as shoppers will continue to visit regardless… about $27 Billion dollars a year worth.
Links and Location
We are not clear on opening date but I’d imagine they are targeting later this year ahead of holiday shopping season.
Dollar Tree at Evergreen Square (Not Open. Under Development)
555 N. Evergreen Ave
Woodbury New Jersey
Dollar Tree Corporate Site