Family Dollar Sees Opportunities in Urban Locations

Tony Lucia

September 12, 2005

Sep. 12--The abandonment of the inner city by corporate America is hardly a new phenomenon, and Reading is hardly alone in having witnessed many companies' flight to the suburbs.

In fact, although downtown areas of some cities, including Reading, are seeing something of a resurgence in business investment, it's almost unheard of for a major company to open a store in an urban neighborhood.

But Family Dollar Stores Inc., which opened its second Reading location last week at 433 W. Douglass St., sees opportunity in such sites.

"A lot of stores don't want to come in there and service those location," said Curt Beckett, district manager for the 5,800-store chain, based in Mathews, N.C. "But we do well. Most of the stores we open now are in urban markets."

Also, in contrast to what has become standard business practice, Family Dollar received no city funding for the store, according to the office of city Managing Director R. Leon Churchill Jr.

The 9,100-square-foot West Douglass Street store, which has about seven full- and part-time workers, is slightly larger than most Family Dollar stores, which average 6,000 to 8,000 square feet, he said.

The chain usually looks for existing buildings that need some work and rehabilitates them.

Beckett, a Frackville, Schuylkill County, native who covers Berks, Lancaster, Lebanon and Dauphin counties from his Columbia, Lancaster County, office, said Family Dollar is likely to open further stores in the Reading area.

It opened its first Reading site at 951 N. Sixth St. in August.

"Reading's a market we need to be in," he said. "We're looking for growth in that area.

"We've looked at a couple of downtown locations within the last three or four months. And it usually takes several months to go through the legal requirements. But we probably will open a few more stores."

Convenience to customers is key to the firm's strategy of seeking out urban markets.

Howard R. Levine, chairman and CEO, in June reported that Family Dollar had about 800 urban stores and that it was planning to expand that number to 1,300 by this month.

"These stores ... have had consistently higher comparable-store sales than the rest of the chain," Levine said in a press release.

Beckett said the chain uses computer models to determine whether crime might be a risk factor at various locations, but said crime was irrelevant in this instance.

"Our other stores do well in inner-city locations," he said.

The new store carries the chain's standard line of health and beauty aids, hardware, toys, school supplies, household cleaners, paper products, auto supplies, clothing and housewares.

Beckett said that although the store carries some food items, it does not carry perishables such as milk, bread and eggs. However, he said those may be added within the next six months.

The store's hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. The hours are subject to change according to local needs, said Family Dollar spokeswoman Florence W. Stanley.

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Dollar Store Services
4505 West Hacienda Ave., Suite I
Las Vegas, NV 89118

1-800-829-2915
FAX: 1-702-382-8454
TEL: 1-702-382-8444
Email: sales@dollarstoreservices.com
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