Competition cops order 10 Phila.-area Family Dollar stores split
By Dollar Tree, in 330-store sale to Dollar Express
17 state Attorneys General, led by the Federal Trade Commission, have agreed to drop their opposition to the planned $9 billion merger of the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar store chains after Dollar Tree (and its affiliated Deals stores) agreed to sell 330 Family Dollars to investor Sycamore Partners, which plans to reopen the stores under the new Dollar Express brand, says Pennsylvania attorney general Kathleen Kane. The merging chains will still have over 13,000 outlets.
"The merger of the companies as initially proposed would have created substantially less competition" in parts of Pennsylvania where Dollar Tree and Family Dollar used to compete, Kane's office said in a statement. "We wanted to ensure there would be competition." (Cause otherwise Dollar Tree could be tempted start charging $2 for $1 items, or substitute extra-cheap merchandise, presumably. Given the size of the merged chains, these states don't expect new operators could break into the dollar-store market, without law enforcement help.)
The Federal Trade Commission helped identify which stores should be sold as a condition of the merger, which is going ahead partly to please past Dollar Tree investor Nelson Peltz, the same billionaire "activist investor" who earlier targeted DuPont, Mondelez/Kraft and Heinz. Dollar stores are the main retailers in towns too small for a Wal-Mart. But more than half the 19 Pa. stores subject to the sale are in the Philadelphia area (others are in Harrisburg, Allentown and Pittsburgh). These are the local Family Dollars slated to join Dollar Express:
Store 7796 -- 63 N. Union Ave., Lansdowne 19050
Store 10502 -- 4551 New Falls Rd., Levittown 19056
Store 9127 -- 332 West Trenton Ave., Ste. 11 Morrisville 19067
Store 1932 -- 8445-C Frankford Ave Philadelphia 19136
Store 6422 -- 6587 Roosevelt Blvd. Philadelphia 19149
Store 6427 -- 2495 Aramingo Ave. Philadelphia 19125
Store 8204 -- 2201 Oregon Ave. Philadelphia 19145
Store 9194 -- 138 W. Chelten Ave. Philadelphia 19144
Store 6557 -- 9 S. 69th St. Upper Darby 19082
Store 5766 -- 901 Cedar Ave. Yeadon 19050