It's a
family
affair
the secret
to Family
dollar's
success
By Michael J. Pallerino
Photography by
Michael LoBiondo Photography
I
t was all about oil. That's
what the legend of Family
Dollar says. When founder
Leon Levine started out scouting
locations for new stores, one of
the things that he looked for was
oil stains. Oil stains meant leaky
cars. And leaky cars needed oil.
In 1958, the 21-year-old entrepreneur with an interest in merchandising was
intrigued with the concept of a low-overhead, self-service retail store. Levine's vision
included offng his customers a variety of high-quality, good value merchandise for
under $2. The son of a retail family, Levine appreciated the principles of value, quality
and customer satisfaction.
In November 1959, he opened the frst Family Dollar store in Charlotte, N.C.
From that frst day, he created the ideal that "the customers are the boss, and you
need to keep them happy."
His general foor plan was mapped out so that his customers could easily
navigate the aisles for their favorite products. Each store was uniformly laid out and
stocked. Customer service was paramount. The concept – a self-serve, cash-andcarry neighborhood discount store in low to middle income neighborhoods – worked.
But the Family Dollar machine didn't concentrate solely on that demographic.
Over the years, the chain grew to more than 8,000 stores in rural areas, small towns
and large urban neighbors like Brooklyn, N.Y.
September : OctOber 2013 — CommerCial ConstruCtion & renovation
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