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Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

theguardian.com

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Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#441

Post by JKCalhoun »

regera wrote: post #116

Dollar stores are private equity with a checkout lane. In 2025, Dollar Tree sold Family Dollar to a group of private-equity firms: Brigade Capital Management, Macellum Capital Management and Arkhouse Management Co. https://corporate.dollartree.com/news-media/press-releases/d... It’s a business model cosplaying as poverty relief while quietly siphoning money from the people least able to lose it. They already run on a…

Here's how shitty of a business person I am: I had no idea that the poor were a "market" you could prey upon.

Somehow I thought that if I presented a business plan that began, "Our target audience are those living paycheck to paycheck…" that I would be quickly shown the door.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#442

Post by jimmydddd »

sema4hacker wrote: post #122
regera wrote: post #116

Dollar stores are private equity with a checkout lane. In 2025, Dollar Tree sold Family Dollar to a group of private-equity firms: Brigade Capital Management, Macellum Capital Management and Arkhouse Management Co. https://corporate.dollartree.com/news-media/press-releases/d... It’s a business model cosplaying as poverty relief while quietly siphoning money from the people least able to lose it. They already run on a…

Has private equity ever done anything good for anyone outside of the investors?

It seems to offer interesting opportunities for young recent high level MBA's.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#443

Post by JambalayaJimbo »

cyberax wrote: post #367
joncp wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... and a car to haul all that stuff, and time to drive to the nearest Costco. It really is a luxury that a ton of people can't afford.

Why is car a luxury? A clunker car worth $2000 will still work fine for years with minor maintenance that can be done by yourself. Oh, yeah. Cities. Cars are expensive when you live in a 100 sq. ft. box. Perhaps that's what is causing problems?

The cost of the car itself is minimal compared to insurance, gas and storage costs.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#444

Post by danans »

tpmoney wrote: post #305
sema4hacker wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has private equity ever done anything good for anyone outside of the investors?

If you're a Dell customer, Michael Dell taking the company private again seems to have done wonders for them.

Dell has been a publicly traded company again since 2018.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#445

Post by ineedasername »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #173
sema4hacker wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has private equity ever done anything good for anyone outside of the investors?

> Has private equity ever done anything good for anyone outside of the investors? If it's not publicly traded, it's super secure from any public accountability. And while I'm increasingly hostile toward the shareholder model, we do get one transparency breadcrumb from this (gov managed) contrivance: The Earnings Call Earnings Calls give us worthwhile amounts of internal information that we'd never get otherwise - inf…

>I'll bet 1 share...

I won't be your counterparty on that bet, you've already won:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/09/15/trump-wants...

One of the reasons cited? All the work it takes. Which is just an insane response. If your business is so poorly run and organized that reconciling things each quarter represents a disproportionate amount of effort, something is very wrong. It means you definitely don't know what's going on, because by definition you can't know, not outside those 4 times a year. In which case there's a reasonable chance the requirement to do so is the only thing that's kept it from going off the rails.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#446

Post by [deleted] »

andrew_lettuce wrote: post #318
pclmulqdq wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody in this comment chain was saying it was good for the customers. The GP was saying that they clear out room for new businesses, and if brick-and-mortar-fabric-superstore were still a viable model someone would be doing it.

How the hell does consolidation, monopolization, externalizing costs and extreme leverage "clear the room for new businesses"? Even on HN playing the role of PE apologist is not going to fly ...

[deleted]

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#447

Post by esseph »

estearum wrote: post #337
esseph wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're a publicly traded company. If they drop profits substantially, I imagine shareholders etc would leave.

I'm pretty sure GP was suggesting a general enforcement framework, not talking about any particular company. Anyway no, shareholders care about much more than simple profits.

Explain, please.

I ask because I've never invested in a company that wasn't very profitable. I'm trying to find out besides intense insider information why someone would. (I'm not VC clearly, just a retail investor.)

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#448

Post by terminalshort »

DangitBobby wrote: post #388
phil21 wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like the grocery stores were not serving their customer base well if they couldn’t compete with “overpriced” dollar stores. Carrying cost of produce does not add up. If produce is going bad at that spoilage rate the store management fucked up and didn’t order the correct amount of product for the location. You can’t wish your way into a product mix. Nothing was stopping grocery stores from identifying this nee…

Then feel free to explain the studies and articles online describing how dollar stores are fucking rural grocery stores.

I don't see anything that says they are "fucking" them. I see plenty that they are out competing them. People get to choose to go to whatever grocery store they like.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#449

Post by toomuchtodo »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #441
regera wrote: post #116

Dollar stores are private equity with a checkout lane. In 2025, Dollar Tree sold Family Dollar to a group of private-equity firms: Brigade Capital Management, Macellum Capital Management and Arkhouse Management Co. https://corporate.dollartree.com/news-media/press-releases/d... It’s a business model cosplaying as poverty relief while quietly siphoning money from the people least able to lose it. They already run on a…

Here's how shitty of a business person I am: I had no idea that the poor were a "market" you could prey upon. Somehow I thought that if I presented a business plan that began, "Our target audience are those living paycheck to paycheck…" that I would be quickly shown the door.

It’s an industry worth tens of billions of dollars in the aggregate unfortunately.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#450

Post by gucci-on-fleek »

faidit wrote: post #391
gucci-on-fleek wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the Wikipedia article: > A display of goods for sale in a shop window or within a shop is an invitation to treat, as in the Boots case, a leading case concerning supermarkets. The shop owner is thus not obliged to sell the goods, even if signage such as "special offer" accompanies the display. […] If a shop mistakenly displays an item for sale at a very low price it is not obliged to sell it for that amount.

Boots was a UK court case. The Wikipedia article you linked has a note at the top that it mainly refers to British law. In the US, local laws generally side with the consumer and legally entitle you to the displayed price. There are also federal laws from the FTC act against deceptive pricing. See some US state laws here: https://www.nist.gov/pml/owm/us-retail-pricing-laws-and-regu... a few summaries from https://www…

Ah, you indeed appear to be correct. Sorry for the mistake, and thanks for the correction.
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