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Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

(www.theguardian.com)
510 points bookofjoe | 1 comments | 07 Dec 25 14:37 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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regera ◴[07 Dec 25 21:07 UTC] No.46185157[source]▶
Dollar stores are private equity with a checkout lane.

In 2025, Dollar Tree sold Family Dollar to a group of private-equity firms: Brigade Capital Management, Macellum Capital Management and Arkhouse Management Co.

https://corporate.dollartree.com/news-media/press-releases/d...

It’s a business model cosplaying as poverty relief while quietly siphoning money from the people least able to lose it. They already run on a thin-staff, high-volume model. That 23% increase is not a glitch. They know their customers can’t drive across town to complain. They know the regulators won’t scale fines to revenue.

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lotsofpulp ◴[07 Dec 25 21:27 UTC] No.46185328[source]▶
> They already run on a thin-staff, high-volume model.

Like every other retail business not targeting the top 5%.

And Dollar Tree and Dollar General are both publicly listed companies, not private equity.

Dollar Tree sold Family Dollar for $1B 10 years after buying it for $8.5B, a pretty big loss. Dollar Tree’s market cap is $25B, so a pretty negligible part of the national dollar store business is “private equity”.

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whynotmaybe ◴[07 Dec 25 21:34 UTC] No.46185392[source]▶
Costco
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1. alephnerd ◴[07 Dec 25 21:39 UTC] No.46185431[source]▶
Costco's revenue comes from their membership fees and their ability to strongarm suppliers to give them favorable terms (eg. Costco is one of the largest alcohol importers in the US and tends to strongarm LVMH).

I love Costco (I practically grew up at Costco as a kid), but their ICP is not the kind of person who shops at Dollar General or is on SNAP - it's very much targeted at the 50th percentile income bracket and above [0].

And this is why PE has taken over the dollar market segment - because it's a trash business that no one else wants to service over the long term. PE is basically the last resort if a business cannot raise capital from traditional avenues, and leadership and investors want to exit. For y'all graybeards think of "Sam Vimes Boots theory".

Mine Safety Disclosures did a great overview on Costco's operating model a couple years ago [1].

[0] - https://www.businessinsider.com/how-costco-sams-club-shopper...

[1] - https://minesafetydisclosures.com/blog/2018/6/18/costco