Family Dollar

Despite solid sales trends at Family Dollar during the company’s first quarter ended November 24, margins contracted and profits were less than expected.

In what turned out to be one of the stranger holiday seasons in recent memory retailers fought through a range of unconventional headwinds to deliver an uneven performance.

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Less than six months after joining Family Dollar, Tammy L. DeBoer has been named SVP of food.

DeBoer will report to Paul White, EVP and CMO at the rapidly growing discount retailer. This latest appointment comes as the retailer has taken steps to position itself as a one-stop destination for shoppers with expanded assortments of food and consumables.

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Family Dollar is positioning itself as a one-stop shop for families this holiday season.

The company plans to have in stock hundreds of toys and gifts priced at $10 or less at its more than 7,000 nationwide locations. The single price point strategy is designed to appeal to the large segment of shoppers hard-hit by the economy and who need stretch their holiday budgets.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar Stores said Friday it has named Colin McGinnis as SVP store operations support, store development and procurement. He will report to Barry Sullivan, EVP store operations.

McGinnis joined Family Dollar in August of 2004 as a regional VP and, in 2006, he was named VP store operations support and process improvement. Most recently, he added additional responsibility for store services, procurement and store development.

Family Dollar – like Dollar General – is opening stores as fast as it can and this week said it would add 500 new units ahead of what is expected to be an announcement by Walmart next week to accelerate growth of its own small format.

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Family Dollar has inked a partnership with a national leader in health-and-wellness solutions to further drive the retailer's commitment to proactively engage in activities that encourage healthy living.

Family Dollar said it would open 500 new stores next year following the release of record sales and profits on Wednesday morning.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar Stores reported Wednesday that net income for the quarter ended Aug. 25 inched up to $80.9 million, from $79.8 million in the same period last year. Results were impacted by an $11.5 million litigation charge stemming from the preliminary settlement of a lawsuit in New York.

Sales for the quarter rose 10.8% to $2.36 billion, a record for the company, and same-store sales increased 5.4%.

Pricing studies conducted this week by Wall Street analysts yielded familiar results.

Deutsche Bank analyst Charles Grom and Citigroup analyst Deb Weinswig issued reports this week comparing Walmart’s prices to dollar stores and conventional supermarkets and Target.