Shoshy Ciment/Business Insider
- Dollar Tree, Dollar General, and Family Dollar are three leading dollar store chains.
- More than 9,300 store closures were announced this year. Dollar General announced in its recent third-quarter earnings call that it plans to open 1,000 new stores and remodel 1,500 existing stores.
- We visited all three dollar stores to see how they compared. Only Dollar General proved why dollar stores are doing so well.
- Sign up for Business Insider's retail newsletter, The Drive-Thru.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
More than 9,300 store closures were announced this year. But as the retail apocalypse rips through the US, dollar stores seem to be weathering the storm.
Dollar General announced in its recent third quarter earnings call that it plans to open 1,000 new stores and remodel 1,500 existing stores.
Dollar Tree, which acquired Family Dollar in 2015 after a bidding war with Dollar General, has also been doing well. The company reported favorable earnings for Q3, which included increases in same-store sales for both Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores.
Though all stores sell some items for $1, each also has pricier items as well. This year, Dollar Tree tested adding more expensive merchandise to some stores to boost sales with its Dollar Tree Plus! initiative.
We visited all three to stores to see how they compare and why they are doing so well in an otherwise grim environment for retailers. Both Dollar Tree and Family Dollar were messy and disorganized. Only Dollar General proved why dollar stores seem to be winning shoppers over.
Here's what we saw: