Dollar Tree Raises Max Price to $7: What Will Cost More?

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Dollar Tree is raising prices again. Although many items available at your local Dollar Tree, like personal care, food and beverage items, will see a new cap price of $7, up from a max price ceiling of $5 set in June 2023, not all items will be affected by this increase. The vast majority of items will remain priced at $1.25. Dollar Tree raised the base price of items to $1.25 in 2021.

"This year, across 3,000 stores, we expect to expand our multi-price assortment by over 300 items at price points ranging from $1.50 to $7," Dollar Tree Chairman and CEO Rick Dreiling said during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call earlier this month. Items impacted are in the food, pet and personal care categories.

The price hike may be in response to the fact that in 2023, most of Dollar Tree’s shoppers came from households with a higher net worth and annual earnings of more than $125,000.

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Dollar Tree is closing some Family Dollar stores

The price increase follows the announcement that Dollar Tree is closing nearly 1,000 of its Family Dollar stores after they underperformed in 2023. (Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar for $8.5 billion in 2014). In comparison, only 30 Dollar Tree stores will close over the next several years.

Dollar Tree’s same-store net sales in 2023 were +6.3%, while Family Dollar's sales slumped by -1.2 %.

“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,” Dreiling noted in a recent press release. “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.”

Dollar Tree has opened more of its flagship stores

The company opened 219 new stores in the fourth quarter, bringing full-year new store openings to 641.
$3 and $5 center-store merchandise available at approximately 5,000 Dollar Tree stores.
Refrigerated and frozen items priced at $3, $4, and $5 are available at more than 6,500 Dollar Tree stores.
As of February 3, 2023, Dollar Tree operated 16,774 stores across 48 states and five Canadian provinces.

Which Family Dollar stores are closing?

Some of the Family Dollar stores that are slated to close include stores located in these cities:

Slocomb, Alabama
Tallahassee, Florida
Peoria, Illinois
Wichita, Kansas
East Liverpool, Ohio
Humansville, Missouri
Willow Springs, Missouri
Middletown, New Jersey
Wilmington, North Carolina
Clearwater, South Carolina
Elkins, West Virginia
Lynchburg, Virginia

The new cap price of $7 on many items will likely not go into effect until later this year, so stock up today at a store near you.

For the past 18+ years, Kathryn has highlighted the humanity in personal finance by shaping stories that identify the opportunities and obstacles in managing a person's finances. All the same, she’ll jump on other equally important topics if needed. Kathryn graduated with a degree in Journalism and lives in Duluth, Minnesota. She joined Kiplinger in 2023 as a contributor.