A few years ago, people in a distant boardroom studied a map of Randolph County and decided that tiny Losantville, Indiana, was the perfect place to unveil one of retail’s newest concepts- a co-branded Family Dollar and Dollar Tree. It wasn’t one dollar store. It was two. Together. Next to an established Dollar General. In a town with two-hundred people. What were they thinking?
Family Dollar dates to 1959 when it was founded in Charlotte, North Carolina. Early establishments that eventually became Dollar Tree date to a similar era, but the first with that recognizable name came online in 1989. In 2015, Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar for $9 billion(!)1, hoping that, together, their increased footprint would help compete against larger rivals2.Â
Dollar General also bid for Family Dollar at a higher valuation than Dollar Tree. Ultimately, Family Dollar shareholders approved Dollar Tree’s tender since it appeared as though that transaction would require fewer divestitures3. Dollar Tree and Family eventually merged.Â
The first co-branded Dollar Tree and Family Dollar store rolled out in 20214. I guess I don’t go to either enough to see any brand synergy there, but I’m no expert. Losantville’s combined store came online in 20235. The paved entrance to the building -which also reaches that established Dollar General- sits at the site of Losantville’s old Blue Moon Restaurant6.Â
Ultimately, Dollar Tree’s purchase of Family Dollar ended in a world of suck. Not long after the companies merged, Dollar Tree offloaded Family Dollar to a pair of private equity groups for a billion dollars(!)- just a fraction of what it spent to acquire the chain7. New owners appeared to have shuttered the co-branded location in Losantville, which left Dollar General to rule the roost.Â
Ultimately, Dollar Tree’s pairing with Family Dollar proved to be a pretty dumb idea. I called it early on, so maybe I should start positioning myself as a retail consultant! That said, the hubristic outcome was almost predictable: Losantville wasn’t big enough to support three dollar stores competing for the same handful of customers, and retail experiments like Dollar Tree’s rarely change the basic math of a small town’s economy.
At the same time, it’s hard to celebrate being right when the result is another empty building in a place like Losantville. Somewhere like that, empty spaces tend to linger. While the corporate planners who dreamed up the discount store combination have long since moved on to their next strategy, Losantville is left with the reminder that sometimes a little less hubris -and a little more common sense- would go a long way.
Sources Cited
1 Meyersohn, N. (2025, March 26). Dollar Tree is selling Family Dollar, ending its disastrous merger. CNN. Web. Retrieved March 14, 2026.Â
2 (See footnote 1).Â
3 Shehadeh, R. & Watts, T. (n.d.). Family Dollar Acquired by Dollar Tree. National Economic Research Associates [White Plains]. Web. Retrieved March 14, 2026.Â
4 Pierceall, K. (2021, March 3). Dollar Tree Launches New Store Concept, Announces $25.5 Billion in Sales Last Year. The Virginian-Pilot [Hampton Roads]. Web. Retrieved March 14, 2026.Â
5 Parcel 68-16-09-400-022.000-011 (2026). Office of the Assessor. Randolph County [Winchester]. Web. Retrieved March 14, 2026.Â
6 (See footnote 5).Â
7 (See footnote 1).Â
It sounds like Dollar Tree was doing a flex, expecting that Losantville’s citizens would abandon Dollar General for the shiny new store. A real head scratcher.
Yet they didn’t` Too much brand differentiation to combine into one store; albeit one next to an established outpost.
It’s been a bit since I’ve been in a Dollar Tree, and do not know if I’ve ever been in a Family Dollar. (I remember shopping in something like that when I lived in NC in 1990, but it could have been Dollar General.) Seems like Dollar Tree is hurting, as the closest one to me unceremoniously closed recently. Wonder how much it has to do with some newer entries into the market. Japanese-based 100-yen shop Daiso has opened several locations around the Portland metro, and the experience is so much better than what Dollar Tree can provide.
Me being a dumb Midwestern hillbilly, I’ve never heard of Daiso! I wish them well! In my experience, Dollar Tree is home to random crap like cheap party supplies easily quickly discarded. I’m not really a fan.
Give them time, they’ll get out to you. For obvious reasons the biggest concentration of Daiso is on the West Coast, but they’ve made inroads into other areas too (Texas has a bit.) For the Midwest there’s concentrations around Chicago, St. Louis, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, but there’s at least one in Bloomington-Normal which is probably the closest to you.
We’ll see some too. Maybe around college towns? Bloomington, IN is IU. It’s a couple hours south, but we’ll see!
Also, I wish I met you sooner. My last old-school corporate job was for Newell Brands which owned a ton of writing brands from Parker to Expo. I’d have loved to send you a pencil; that last post you wrote was great.
That’s not too far. I could see one in the trendy parts of old Indy or a college town.
“HUBRIS” cracks me up.
And this is an apt post for today, since this very real store that opened sounds like an April Fool’s Day post.
I know! I think I’ve seen some other combos that have now closed, but I can’t remember where.
One of my car buddies has a Losantville address so I’ll have to ask him if he knows the “real” story of the Great Dollar Store Showdown.
Ask him? Geez, talk about dating myself…I’ll just forward him a link to this post. At least I didn’t say I was going to write him.
Haha, that’s hilarious. And I’ll be interested to hear the real story!
How bizarre… my only thought is that they were doing a test run in the cheapest way possible.
Sure seems like it.