ATHOL — It appears that those wondering about the future of Athol’s Family Dollar store will have to go right on wondering – at least for the near future.
Chesapeake, Virginia-based Dollar Tree, the discount chain’s parent company, announced in early March that it would be shuttering as many as 390 Family Dollar stores, but which ones remains anyone’s guess. At the same time, Dollar Tree officials said some 200 Family Dollar stores would be “re-bannered” as Dollar Trees.
In response to an inquiry from the Athol Daily News, Dollar Tree spokesperson Kayleigh Painter said, “We have not shared a listing of stores that will, or may, close.”
“I don’t know if the (Athol) Family Dollar store is slated for closure or re-branding,” said Town Manager Shaun Suhoski. “I do know that a Dollar Tree outlet is the anchor tenant in a 26,000 square foot commercial building now under construction at North Quabbin Commons in Athol. I’m not sure if they will operate two franchises in the community, though the existing Family Dollar is on the town line with Orange and likely has a different trade area.”
Mark Wright, Executive Director of the North Quabbin Chamber of Commerce, is also taking a wait-and-see approach.
“Were it to close, I don’t know how many people would be impacted,” he said. “Not many people walk to that store because it’s on the Athol-Orange town line. The Hannaford Plaza, where Family Dollar is, is a turnaround point for the bus lines in two counties. Athol is in Worcester County and Orange is in Franklin County. It’s a turnaround point for MART (Montachusett Area Regional Transit) and FCT (Franklin County Transportation). It might inconvenience some people coming from Orange if they have to switch buses at the plaza in order to travel to a Dollar Tree at North Quabbin Commons.”
“Stores come and go,” said Wright. “I don’t know if the Family Dollar is targeted for closure or not. I’m sure Dollar Tree will target their most underperforming stores. If a store is underperforming, it says a lot about how many people actually use that store.”
According to Painter, Dollar Tree operates 15,237 stores across the 48 contiguous states and in five provinces of Canada. She said 7,001 are Dollar Tree stores, while the remaining 8,236 are Family Dollar stores. Painter added that the company has plans to open 350 new Dollar Tree stores and 200 Family Dollar stores in the near future.
Unlike Family Dollar, which is more of a traditional discount department store where prices vary from item to item, all items at Dollar Tree are priced at a dollar or less. The nearest Dollar Tree store is located in Gardner.
Dollar Tree began operations in 1986 under the name Only $1.00, before changing its name in 1991. Family Dollar opened its first store in 1959 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dollar Tree purchased the older company in 2014 for $8.5 billion.