WebProNews

Tag: dollar store

  • Evil Stick, The Demonic Dollar Store Toy

    Evil Stick, The Demonic Dollar Store Toy

    There’s nothing like a wonderful stroll to your daily dollar store and picking up some economy class toys for your loved ones. So who would have thought that among the libraries of cheap molds and Chloe knock off Barbies that evil was afoot? It was.

    In Dayton, Ohio, a mother out purchasing a toy wand called ‘EVIL STICK’ for her daughter this week was shocked to find a secret image.

    Hidden behind the quality foil of the wand was a picture of something truly disturbing: a black lipped, sharped tooth, dead-like, MS painted eyed demonic girl cutting her wrist with a kitchen knife as it drips in a pool of blood.

    “It’s a picture of a girl slitting her wrists. I’m outraged over it,” mother Nicole Allen, who purchased the toy wand for her two-year-old daughter, told WHIO.

    Shake the wand and a noise box emits cackling laughter; though odd (but permissible) if the wand was devoid of the image, becomes frightening when paired with it.

    “I want to know how they think that that is suitable for a child. There was Barbie dolls on one side and baby toys on the other side, and these were right in the middle.”

    The elegant cursive lettering, pink decorated background, swirl designs, and cute anime character suggested the princess wand was kid friendly. However, with a name like ‘EVIL STICK’, it’s questionable over what the product’s message entails (despite being in the toy section of the store.)

    The owner of the dollar store (literally called ‘$.100 store’), Amar Moustafa, said that Allen should have read the toy’s label before buying it.

    “The name on it, it says “Evil Stick”,’ Moustafa said.

    “So from the name, if I was buying it for my kid, I would inspect it before I gave it to them.”

    Moustsafa added that he felt the toy would be better “for a five, sex, seven, 10-year-old, I mean they see that on TV everyday.”

    ‘EVIL STICK’ still remains on sale at the store.

  • Dollar Tree Acquires Family Dollar For $8.5 Billion

    There were echoes of trouble for dollar store franchise Family Dollar back in April, and talks of an impending buyout.

    On Monday it was announced that rival franchise Dollar Tree would be buying Family Dollar.

    Dollar Tree is said to have acquired the floundering company for about eight and a half billion dollars, although it’s believed that the deal could actually be worth well over nine billion.

    There are a number of questions being asked as this event sends shock waves throughout the dollar store industry.

    Many observers are curious as to what will happen to the Family Dollar Brand. It’s not unusual for the rival to acquire a franchise, and then change the names of the old stores to their own.

    This would be somewhat difficult to pull off for Dollar Tree, which operates in a much different manner from Family Dollar.

    It’s known far and wide that everything in a Dollar Tree store is $1 or less. However, Family Dollar stores have items ranging in price.

    Dollar Tree has stated that it expects to operate Family Dollar as its own brand, separately from the Dollar Tree, Dollar Tree Canada, and Deals brands.

    This is a situation where the boards for both companies are very enthusiastic about the deal.

    Though the shareholders at Family Dollar still have to approve the deal for things to be finalized, the rise in stock prices for both Dollar Tree and Family Dollar should help bring them around.

    Dollar Tree shares jumped ten percent to reach a value of $59.72 and Family Dollar shares jumped by nearly $15 dollars to $75.55.

    Even with the positive early outlook, it’s likely Dollar Tree will have make adjustments.

    The dollar store industry faces stiff competition from companies like Walmart, which has gone after lower income shoppers and those still feeling the effects of the recession.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Family Dollar: Store Closings Signal End of An Era?

    Once upon a time it was practically guaranteed that no matter what was happening with the economy, the 99¢ or $1 stores would not be affected.

    After all, if regular stores were too expensive for cash-strapped Americans, many would no doubt turn to stores like Family Dollar for cheap essentials.

    This belief was shattered by the news that Family Dollar would be closing down 370 stores. The move to close hundreds of stores and lay-off thousands of workers is said to coincide with the slashing of prices nationwide.

    What went wrong for the seemingly invincible dollar store chain? The closings and lowered prices are due to a six percent loss in revenue over the past year.

    According to Family Dollar Chairman and CEO Howard Levine, the retailer’s financial woes could be blamed on poor weather. The harsh winter and excessive snowfall is said to have led to closed stores, disrupted deliveries, and greater than anticipated maintenance costs.

    The problem with this explanation is that it only accounts for winter weather within recent months. Since revenue losses go back to the latter part of 2013, it’s hard to use weather as the entire reason for a drop in profits.

    The big question is why customers aren’t shopping at dollar stores as much as they did during to and even prior to the recession.

    Some analysts believe that weakening dollar store profits (competitors Dollar General and Dollar Tree also saw losses) mean that the American economy has potentially strengthened quite a bit. After all, if dollar stores are suffering, surely American shoppers are taking their dollars to more expensive stores?

    Regardless of whether or not this is the case, Family Dollar’s plans for expansion have been dealt a sizable blow. The chain opened 500 new stores in 2013. Instead of opening an additional 500 stores in 2014, it’s being reported that Family Dollar will cut back to about 350 or 400 new stores.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons