WHERE THE DOLLAR STOPS - parked art series

Family Dollar is an American success story, which grew into a 8,000 location variety store. It was founded in 1959 by a 21 year old named Leon Levine in Charlotte NC.

After growing to over 1,000 stores, the company went public and began competing with Dollar Tree and Dollar General. A giant battle for the consumers insatiable appetite for merchandise priced at $1 ensued. Growth continued with the company joining the ranks of the Fortune 500 largest.

The success did not go unnoticed. Various takeover attempt were launched by Nelson Peltz and others. Carl Icahn eventually won 9.4% of the company in early 2014, demanding that it be sold to the highest bidder. Half way through 2014, 22% of the company was in the hands of raiders seeking a profit from its sale. By the end of the year, the rival giants of Dollar Tree and Dollar General both offered competing bids for the firm.

A titanic battle of corporate dollars and egos ensued until in 2015 Family Dollar announced it had accepted Dollar Trees bid. As part of the sale agreement, some of Family Dollar’s stores were sold to another competing brand. Those stores were purchased later by Dollar General.

The battle of these $1 whales continues with Family Dollar, Dollar General and Dollar Tree Stores sometimes all appearing in the same shopping complex.

One fall out from these battles is that in Charlotte the once headquarters of Family Dollar sits idle. It’s trucks parked here and there around a huge warehouse, now just parked business art left behind from a battle of titans.

David Young