Family Dollar Stores, Inc. history, profile and corporate video
Family Dollar Stores, Inc. operates a chain of more than 7,400 general merchandise retail discount stores in 45 states, providing consumers with a selection of merchandise in neighborhood stores. The Company’s merchandise assortment includes Consumables, Home Products, Apparel and Accessories, and Seasonal and Electronics. Its Family Dollar store is between 7,500 and 9,500 square feet, with an average of approximately 7,150 square feet of selling space. During the fiscal year ended August 25, 2012, the Company operated 7,442 stores. The Company offers a focused assortment of merchandise in a number of core categories, such as health and beauty aids, packaged food and refrigerated products, home cleaning supplies, house wares, stationery, seasonal goods, apparel, and home fashions. The Company’s typical store generally carries approximately 6500 – 7000 basic stock keeping units (SKUs).”
“Family Dollar Stores History
In 1958, a 21-year-old entrepreneur with an interest in merchandising became intrigued with the idea of operating a low-overhead, self-service retail store. Leon Levine believed he could offer his customers a variety of high-quality, good value merchandise for under $2. Because he had grown up in his family’s retail store, he understood value, quality and customer satisfaction.
In November 1959, Leon Levine opened the first Family Dollar store in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was on his way to becoming a retailing legend. Right from the start, he had a well-developed philosophy of what Family Dollar would be and how it would operate, a philosophy from which he and his management team have never strayed. The concept is a simple one, “the customers are the boss, and you need to keep them happy.”
He created a general floorplan that he used in each of his stores that allowed customers to easily shop for their favorite products in any Family Dollar store. With the stores uniformly laid out and stocked, store managers were able to focus on providing good customer service. This concept for a self-serve, cash-and-carry neighborhood discount store in low to middle income neighborhoods proved so successful that today Family Dollar is a chain with over 8,000 stores from Maine to California.”
*Information from Forbes.com and Familydollar.com
**Video published on YouTube by “TheFamilyDollar“