Family Dollar Closes Close to 400 Stores

Hard times have hit yet another retailer. Super discount store Family Dollar recently announced plans to lay off some workers and close roughly 370 stores that weren’t performing well.

The retailer is attempting to improve sales and earnings.

Family Dollar reports that for the second quarter of fiscal 2014 ended March 1, 2014, net sales were $2.7 billion, as compared to $2.9 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2013 ended March 2, 2013.

Family Dollar believes sales suffered in the second quarter of fiscal 2014 due to poor winter weather.

RELATED: JC Penney to Close Stores and Layoff 2,000 Workers

The retailer says it plans to take the following actions:

– Lower prices on nearly 1,000 basic items.
– Reduce corporate overhead and re-align key organizational functions.
– Close approximately 370 underperforming stores in the second half of fiscal 2014.
– Slow new store growth beginning in fiscal 2015.

Family Dollar predicts cutting back on its workforce and closing stores will result in $40 million to $45 million of annualized operating profit benefit, beginning in the third quarter of fiscal 2014.

Says Family Dollar in a written statement: “For the third quarter of fiscal 2014, the company expects that store sales will decline in the low-single-digit range and that earnings per diluted share will be between $0.85 and $0.95 per share, excluding approximately $0.13 per share related to restructuring charges. Including the restructuring charges, the Company expects earnings per diluted share will be between $0.72 and $0.82.”