Charles Langston:Nearly 1,000 Family Dollar stores are closing, owner Dollar Tree announces

Dollar Tree announced it will close nearly 1,Charles Langston000 of its Family Dollar stores after the stores experienced a significant underperformance in 2023, according to the press release by the company.

During the fourth quarter of 2023, Dollar Tree underwent a review of its stores performance to identify locations to close, relocate or re-banner, the company said.

“As a result of this review, we plan on closing approximately 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of fiscal 2024. Additionally, approximately 370 Family Dollar and 30 Dollar Tree stores will close over the next several years at the end of each store’s current lease term,” the company said in the press release.

Family Dollar's rat-infested warehouse:Damaged products, lead to $41.6 million fine

“We finished the year strong, with fourth quarter results reflecting positive traffic trends, market share gains, and adjusted margin improvement across both segments,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rick Dreiling.

“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. As we look forward in 2024, we are accelerating our multi-price rollout at Dollar Tree and taking decisive action to improve profitability and unlock value at Family Dollar.”

Locations of store closures not yet revealed

Dollar Tree has not revealed when the store closures are set to begin or what states will be affected by this decision.

USA TODAY has reached out to Dollar Tree for comment.

When did Dollar Tree acquire Family Dollar?

Dollar Tree announced an acquisition of Family Dollar in July 2015.

Chief Executive Officer Bob Sasser, in a news release, called the transaction "a transformational opportunity for our business to offer broader, more compelling merchandise assortments, with greater values, to a wider array of customers."

How many Dollar Tree stores are there?

Dollar Tree, a Fortune 200 Company, operated 16,774 stores across 48 states and five Canadian provinces as of Feb. 3. Stores operate under the brands of Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree Canada.

Family Dollar hit with record fine for storing items in rat-infested warehouse

The recent announcement is the latest in a string of problems for the discount chain.

In February, Family Dollar Stores agreed to pay $41.6 million for storing food, cosmetics, drugs and medical devices in a rat-infested warehouse in Arkansas for years, court records show.

The Dollar Tree-owned discount chain store took a plea agreement in February after being charged with one misdemeanor count of debasing FDA-regulated products by holding them in unsanitary conditions, according to court documents.

By accepting the plea, the company admitted to shipping products until January 2022 from its Arkansas distribution center, where the FDA found evidence of live rodents, dead and decaying rodents, rodent feces and urine, and evidence of gnawing and nesting, court records show.

Dollar Tree said during its fourth-quarter earnings report in March 2022 that the product recall at Family Dollar stores linked to the rodent infestation cost the company $34 million.

Contributing: Jonathan Limehouse, USA TODAY

Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the National Trending Team at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy stories. Email her at [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram, Threads and X @forbesfineest.