Plaquemine location of Family Dollar among hundreds set to shut down amid corporate woes
Shutdowns follow weak sales during holiday season, as well as costs from cleanup of rodent-infested warehouse in West Memphis, Ark.
A nationwide discount retail chain’s Plaquemine location is one of hundreds that will shut down due to the company’s financial difficulties.
The Family Dollar store at the intersection of Belleview Road and Hebert Street is going out of business as part of a plan by parent company Dollar Tree to close 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of this year, while 370 more are set to shut down as leases expires, according to Dollar Tree Inc.
This announcement in March was predicated on weak fourth-quarter earnings for the Chesapeake, Va.-based retailer, which was founded in 1959 in Charlotte, N.C.
“While we are still in the early stages of our transformation journey, I am proud of what our team accomplished in 2023 and see a long runway of growth ahead of us," Rick Dreiling, chairman and chief executive officer said in a news release.
Louisiana has 319 Family Dollar locations in 184 cities.
Dollar Tree, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, purchased Family Dollar. It grew the company to more than 16,000 stores and 200,000 employees operating in all 48 contiguous states and five Canadian provinces.
Last year, the Department of Justice levied a $42 million on Family Dollar Stores after pleading guilty to storing consumer products – food, drugs, cosmetics and medical devices – in a rat-infested warehouse.
It marked the largest-ever penalty in a food safety case for allowing products to become contaminated in an unsanitary distribution facility in West Memphis, Ark. Reports of the rodent issues went public in fall 2020.
It also led to a recall of products and merchandise in more than 400 locations that received products from the Arkansas warehouse.
The shutdowns coincide with the ongoing growth from chief rival Dollar General