Family Dollar/Dollar Tree has opened its doors for business in Clifton Forge in the building that A&P, Save-A-Lot, and the Victory Baptist Church occupied over the years near the Clifton Forge Town Hall.
Dollar Tree agreed to pay Family Dollar $8.5 billion on July 27, 2014 to purchase the company.
The deal benefited Carl Icahn, owner of a 9.4% stake in Family Dollar, and Jan. 22, 2015, Family Dollar’s shareholders approved the sale.
The strategy employed by Dollar Tree was threefold, to increase its customer base, reduce operating costs and increase its ability to compete against Dollar General, Wal*Mart and Target.
However, the parent company found it necessary by 2018 to close 120 Family Dollar stores, and the company closed 400 more in 2019.
In 2019, inflation prompted Dollar Tree to raise its prices to $1.25 per item, and many of the stores have been combined like the one in Clifton Forge to operate under the same roof as a cost-cutting and more attractive venue for customers.
The difference in the two chains had been that Dollar Tree focused on a wide variety of items to market for $1 apiece compared to Family Dollar which offered less variety of items but charged higher prices and relied on sales and discount prices to attract customers.
The building occupied by Dollar Tree/Family Dollar in Clifton Forge was an A&P store in the 1970s, and later, it became a Save-A-Lot Food Store before returning to an A&P again before transitioning to the Victory Baptist Church, the church that purchased the building Family Dollar was renting in Clifton Forge across the street from Kroger.
Icahn was born on Feb. 16, 1936, in Queens, N.Y. He owns Icahn Enterprises, a public company & diversified conglomerate holding company.
He lives in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., and he is worth $18.5 billion.
