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Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

(www.theguardian.com)
510 points bookofjoe | 8 comments | 07 Dec 25 14:37 UTC | HN request time: 0.13s | source | bottom
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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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sema4hacker ◴[07 Dec 25 21:15 UTC] No.46185228[source]▶
Has private equity ever done anything good for anyone outside of the investors?
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chongli ◴[07 Dec 25 21:51 UTC] No.46185536[source]▶
Private equity are the crows of the economy. They pick off weak / dysfunctional businesses and open space for fresh competition (or for other markets to open up).
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VerifiedReports ◴[07 Dec 25 22:03 UTC] No.46185660[source]▶
Tell that to former JoAnn Fabrics customers.
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pclmulqdq ◴[07 Dec 25 22:09 UTC] No.46185720[source]▶
They should have paid more for the fabric, I guess. Private equity tends to loot things on the way down. Joann was on the way out regardless.
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collingreen ◴[07 Dec 25 22:57 UTC] No.46186202[source]▶
Lol, the "it's actually good for customers" response is "they should have paid more"? I love it.
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1. pclmulqdq ◴[07 Dec 25 23:34 UTC] No.46186533[source]▶
Nobody in this comment chain was saying it was good for the customers. The GP was saying that they clear out room for new businesses, and if brick-and-mortar-fabric-superstore were still a viable model someone would be doing it.
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2. Jill_the_Pill ◴[07 Dec 25 23:53 UTC] No.46186667[source]▶
I am looking for fabric right now and am terribly frustrated not to have anywhere but limited quilting shops available. Online is not an answer, because you can't handle the fabric for weight, exact color, and stretchiness.

JoAnn drove all the medium-sized fabric stores out and left us with nothing.

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3. andrew_lettuce ◴[08 Dec 25 00:08 UTC] No.46186793[source]▶
How the hell does consolidation, monopolization, externalizing costs and extreme leverage "clear the room for new businesses"?

Even on HN playing the role of PE apologist is not going to fly ...

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4. phil21 ◴[08 Dec 25 01:58 UTC] No.46187460[source]▶
The lack of customer density over time drove out all the fabric stores - medium sized or not.

At-home sewing has been declining since I've been alive, and it was just barely hanging on when I was a kid. The demographics simply cannot support these stores in most locations outside of hyper-dense cities.

Not to mention the folks who shop for fabric tend to be some of the most cost-conscious consumers around. They are more or less the prototype of a customer who will go to a B&M store and then price match on-line,.

I'm honestly surprised even Jo-anne survived as long as it did.

5. ◴[08 Dec 25 03:20 UTC] No.46187924[source]▶
6. massysett ◴[08 Dec 25 03:41 UTC] No.46188026[source]▶
Consolidation frees up real estate, allowing new businesses to open. Where I live, old supermarkets are now farmers’ markets, trampoline parks, and health clubs, and an old car dealership is a church.
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7. VerifiedReports ◴[09 Dec 25 04:19 UTC] No.46201181{3}[source]▶
Fantasyland in the house!
8. VerifiedReports ◴[09 Dec 25 04:22 UTC] No.46201192[source]▶
The "clear out room for new business" argument is as absurd as it gets. If you think the landscape is packed to capacity with brick-&-mortar stores to the point that it needs "room for new business," you don't live in the USA.