As many shoppers are struggling to save amid high inflation, retailers have been steadily shifting prices higher. We've seen it happen recently with Walmart, Trader Joe's, and even Five Below, but of course, those aren't the only chains giving their customers sticker shock. In 2021, Dollar Tree made the major decision to depart from its signature $1 price point by hiking most of its products up to the $1.25 mark. Over the past few years, the retailer has also introduced higher-priced food options and launched a Dollar Tree Plus section, which prices some items up to $5. But now, some shoppers are saying enough is enough. Dollar Tree's latest price changes have prompted calls for a boycott.
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During a fourth-quarter earnings call with investors on March 13, Dollar Tree CEO Rick Dreiling revealed that the retailer is now planning to raise its maximum price point in stores to $7.
"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," Dreiling said. He explained that this will allow the company to introduce a "wider range of choices across a variety of categories" in its stores, including food, pet supplies, and personal care products.
Unsurprisingly, this news has prompted some anger in the Dollar Tree community. "This is gonna be the death of the last true dollar store," one consumer stated in the comment section of a March 27 Reddit post regarding the $7 price-cap announcement.
"So when's he going to announce the name/branding change? Might as well just name them Family Dollar Minis at this point," a different user responded. Another questioned, "So Dollar Tree is slowing becoming Dollar General?"
Though both Dollar General and Family Dollar have also increased prices in the past year, consumers seem more outraged over Dollar Tree's announcement.
When one Reddit user stated that the retailer is "basically Family Dollar now," another responded, "But worse because you don't go into Family Dollar expecting everything to be cheap."
As a result of the hike, some shoppers announced their own plans to boycott the chain.
"I can handle a $1.25, $3, and MAYBE a $5 price point on certain things. But $7 at Dollar Tree? Absolutely [expletive] not," one Reddit user replied. Others said, "Fine, I'll just go to Walmart," and, "Yeah, I'll go to Target for my overpriced 7 dollar items."
RELATED: Dollar Stores Are Secretly Charging You More Than Walmart and Target, Experts Warn.
"I feel like we should boycott Dollar Tree, $7 for anything in that store is absolutely insane," one person posted on X. Another wrote in a separate X post, "Can we all boycott Dollar Tree until they promise to lower the prices? Because I’m tired of it."
Some shoppers are explicitly calling for consumers to boycott "Dollar Tree's greed," noting that the price hike came on the heels of confirmation that the chain was seeing an increase in higher-earning shoppers visiting its stores.
"Dollar Tree added 3.4 million new customers in 2023, mostly from households earning over $125,000 a year,” Dreiling said during the Mach earnings call. "The fastest-growing demographic is north of $125,000 a year in income."
One X user wrote to Dollar Tree on March 28, "Raising prices again is not a reflection of a richer customer base, it’s a reflection of taking full advantage of people who struggle to make ends meet!"
Best Life has reached out to Dollar Tree about the calls for a boycott and will update this story with their response.
But if the response to Dollar Tree's previous price hikes are any indication, the retailer should perhaps be concerned about losing part of their customer base.
A former store manager of a Dollar Tree in Minnesota told Business Insider that he personally witnessed many customers buying less and less from the retailer after the increase to $1.25—especially the customers who were not making over $125,000 a year.
"Your average sale should actually go up a little bit if they're paying more," the manager told the news outlet, explaining that he instead noticed people counting their items at the register and choosing to buy fewer.
"A quarter don't sound like much, but when that's the people you're catering to, it is a lot," he said.
