Dollar Tree’s decision to shut roughly 970 underperforming Family Dollar locations is removing one of the last nearby food sources for households that already struggle to reach a grocery store. More than 600 of those closures were set for the first half of fiscal year 2024, with another 370 slated to close as leases expire. The wave of closures falls disproportionately on census tracts the federal government classifies as low-income and low-access, raising the prospect that millions of Americans will face longer trips and higher costs for basic groceries.
Why 970 planned Family Dollar closures threaten food access
The scale of the pullback is unusual even for a sector accustomed to rapid store turnover. Dollar Tree disclosed the portfolio optimization review when it reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2023 results in March 2024, identifying roughly 600 Family Dollar stores for near-term closure and roughly 370 more to shut as their leases run out. An additional 30 Dollar Tree-branded stores were also marked for closure, but the Family Dollar count dwarfs that figure. SEC filings covering the fiscal year ended February 3, 2024, confirmed the total target of roughly 970 underperforming Family Dollar stores.
The closures matter because Family Dollar stores are often the only retailer within walking or short driving distance for residents in low-income neighborhoods. The USDA Economic Research Service tracks these gaps through its Food Access Research Atlas, a tract-level dataset that flags areas where poverty rates are high and the nearest supermarket or large grocery store is far away. Many of the census tracts where Family Dollar operates score in the top quartile for low-income and low-access on the atlas’s most recent indicators, built from 2019 through 2022 data. When the USDA updates the atlas with 2025 store data, tracts that lost a Family Dollar and already ranked among the most food-insecure are likely to show a measurable increase in the low-access indicator, because the next nearest food retailer may now be several miles farther.
Peer-reviewed research on dollar-store dependence
A peer-reviewed study published in Current Developments in Nutrition (DOI: 10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.104457) examined why low-income shoppers rely on dollar stores for food. Researchers found that proximity and price were the dominant factors driving store choice among participants with tight budgets and limited transportation. Shoppers reported that dollar stores were frequently the closest option for purchasing shelf-stable staples, cleaning supplies, and some refrigerated items. The study’s authors concluded that disruptions to this retail channel could directly affect food and nutrition security for these households, a finding that gains sharper relevance as hundreds of Family Dollar locations go dark.
The research did not track what happens after a store closes, leaving a gap in the evidence. No post-closure follow-up has measured whether affected shoppers shifted to another retailer, spent more on transportation, or reduced the variety of food they purchased. That absence of longitudinal data means the full nutritional and financial toll of the closures has not been quantified by any published study.
