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 LongStrangeTrip
Deadhead
Registered: 09/19/09
Posts: 4,482
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 Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes 
#16028777 - 04/01/12 01:13 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes
Link
UPDATE: This story has been updated to reflect a statement from Leon Levine, founder of Family Dollar.
In the fight for low-income shoppers, Family Dollar has unveiled a new weapon: cigarettes.
The Matthews, N.C.-based dollar store will start selling cigarettes and tobacco products in the next several months, president and Chief Operating Officer Michael Bloom said on a conference call with analysts Wednesday.
Family Dollar shoppers smoke more than average, but until now have been getting their fix elsewhere. "Tobacco is about a $90 billion business that drives very frequent trips," Bloom said. "Our customer research tells us that Family Dollar customers overindex on cigarettes and tobacco products. Soon, our customers will be able to come to our stores for these products."
Family Dollar didn't respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.
None of Family Dollar's chief competitors -- Dollar Tree, Dollar General or 99-Cent Only -- sell cigarettes. Dollar stores also typically shy away from selling alcohol, though in the past two years Dollar General and Family Dollar have experimented with selling beer and wine.
Family Dollar's "core customer" is on a tight budget, making $40,000 a year or less per family. Though company officials believe that the economy is improving overall, its "core customer is stressed and continues to be stressed," CEO Howard Levine told analysts on Wednesday's call.
Family Dollar is already using other tactics to lure stressed Americans to its stores. The chain is in the process of reinventing itself as a discount grocer, where shoppers can get packaged and frozen food, as well as staples like milk and eggs, on the cheap. In the last three months, Family Dollar increased its inventory of "consumables," or food and household goods, by 18 percent in the past three months. It's also planning to double its freezer and refrigerator space by the end of 2012.
So far, the strategy is working. Sales in stores open at least a year rose 4.5 percent in the last three months, with sales of consumables increasing 13 percent.
"More and more people are visiting their local Family Dollar to save money on the things they need every day," Levine said on the call.
While Family Dollar shoppers may pick up cigarettes in an attempt to soothe stress, the move likely won't be doing them any favors in terms of health, as doctors at North Carolina's Levine Cancer Institute know too well. The Cancer Institue, which will open this fall, was established thanks to a $20 million donation from Family Dollar founder Leon Levine, father of Howard Levine, the company's CEO.
Leon Levine, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Leon Levine foundation, retired from the board of Family Dollar in 2003. "Since that time I have held no position with Family Dollar Stores as a director, executive, major shareholder, special advisor or in any other capacity," he wrote in an email. "My foundation fully supports its grant to establish the Levine Cancer Institute and believes that the Institute will improve the lives of thousands as it will redefine the delivery of cancer care in the Carolinas."
Now, at least, North and South Carolina shoppers can rest assured that if they buy cigarettes at Family Dollar, the Cancer Institute will have their backs down the road.
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"Once in awhile, you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right"~ (Grateful Dead)
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"Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum."; "Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system."~ Cicero
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 crackawebsta
The Near Future
 
Registered: 12/17/06
Posts: 1,331
Last seen: 10 days, 18 hours
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: LongStrangeTrip]
#16029233 - 04/01/12 03:24 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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So will they only be a buck for a pack?
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"It's all just a dream, babe
A vacuum, a scheme, babe
That sucks you into feelin' like this."
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OGTubs
Stranger
Registered: 12/14/11
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: crackawebsta]
#16029283 - 04/01/12 03:38 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Well the big brands definitely aren't giving them a contract to sell their smokes a dollar a pack. Even in NC
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luvdemshrooms
Two inch dick..but it spins!?
Registered: 11/29/01
Posts: 24,847
Loc: Lost In Space
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: crackawebsta]
#16029293 - 04/01/12 03:41 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
crackawebsta said:
So will they only be a buck for a pack?
I didn't see that in the article. Family Dollar has a great many items that cost more than 1 dollar.
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“In politics, few talents are as richly rewarded as the ability to convince parasites that they are victims. Welfare states on both sides of the Atlantic have discovered that largesse to losers does not reduce their hostility to society, but only increases it. Far from producing gratitude, generosity is seen as an admission of guilt, and the reparations as inadequate compensation for injustices – leading to worsening behavior by the recipients.
Thomas Sowell
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MaxFresh
I made this
Registered: 03/03/03
Posts: 71,909
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: LongStrangeTrip]
#16029339 - 04/01/12 03:53 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
crackawebsta said:
So will they only be a buck for a pack?
Haha, you never been to a Family Dollar or Dollar General, huh?
Also, all Dollar General sells is USA Gold cigarettes, I'm not smoking USA Gold. And they got name brand shit too these days on everything else, and it's not much cheaper than walmart, cause it's owned by walmart.
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Ojom
member
Registered: 10/28/99
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: MaxFresh]
#16029377 - 04/01/12 04:03 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
StevenMichael said:
Quote:
crackawebsta said:
So will they only be a buck for a pack?
Haha, you never been to a Family Dollar or Dollar General, huh?
Also, all Dollar General sells is USA Gold cigarettes, I'm not smoking USA Gold. And they got name brand shit too these days on everything else, and it's not much cheaper than walmart, cause it's owned by walmart.
Quote:
StevenMichael said:
Quote:
crackawebsta said:
So will they only be a buck for a pack?
Haha, you never been to a Family Dollar or Dollar General, huh?
Also, all Dollar General sells is USA Gold cigarettes, I'm not smoking USA Gold. And they got name brand shit too these days on everything else, and it's not much cheaper than walmart, cause it's owned by walmart.
Dollar General is not owned by walmart.
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Beefy1
GONE
Registered: 05/02/09
Posts: 3,573
Loc: around
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: Ojom]
#16029647 - 04/01/12 05:04 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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If they're cheap and not incredibly stale I'll take them.
Local dollar store has a check cashing/western union window.
Gotta provide what your customers want.
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durian_2008
cornucopian eating an elephant
Registered: 04/02/08
Posts: 2,497
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: Ojom]
#16029671 - 04/01/12 05:10 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Based on past experience, I would expect:
smaller quantity
inferior quality
discontinued leftovers
dreary shopping experience
When I am dragged there, I find rare gems in the garden supplies and discontinued stuff.
I have been desperate enough to shop in these places, but found that it was usually better to DIY.
I am polite, quiet, of humble means.
But, get the idea that healthy-looking and showered people in these places are made to feel as though they are a long way from home by borderline aggressive people-of-Walmart types.
Edited by durian_2008 (04/01/12 05:17 PM)
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Nullface
Registered: 09/04/11
Posts: 4,555
Loc: USA 
Last seen: 2 hours, 1 minute
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: durian_2008]
#16030089 - 04/01/12 06:44 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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We have local brands here in Kentucky that are about $1 a pack. Red Buck is one that I can think of right now. Actually all cigarettes are really cheap here; about $3 is the average.
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MaxFresh
I made this
Registered: 03/03/03
Posts: 71,909
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: Nullface]
#16030166 - 04/01/12 07:05 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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"Premium" brands like Newport and Marlboro are $5 here.
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durian_2008
cornucopian eating an elephant
Registered: 04/02/08
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: MaxFresh]
#16030222 - 04/01/12 07:22 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Southern California, here. 
Have a couple plants on my patio, or buy something fancy on special occasions.
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SOUTHERN
NAIL DRIVER
Registered: 03/29/09
Posts: 823
Loc: south
Last seen: 11 hours, 12 minutes
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: durian_2008]
#16030783 - 04/01/12 09:18 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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lol.. they may start rolling there own cigss outta buglar...
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Beefy1
GONE
Registered: 05/02/09
Posts: 3,573
Loc: around
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: Nullface]
#16031683 - 04/02/12 01:58 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Nullface said:
We have local brands here in Kentucky that are about $1 a pack. Red Buck is one that I can think of right now. Actually all cigarettes are really cheap here; about $3 is the average.
I need to make a trip to a tobacco growing state.
I stopped in NC a few years ago and got cartons of camels for $17. They're probably more expensive now but it's gotta beat the $55 a carton for cheap stuff around here. A carton of marlboros is like $70
Getting harder to order off the internet too. and I don't really like the moldovian camels.
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trip forever
Stranger
Registered: 08/21/09
Posts: 5,839
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: Beefy1]
#16040167 - 04/03/12 09:55 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Damn, I live in Virginia and a carton here is 40-50. And an average pack of malboros is 3.50 (about the lowest I've seen, although more places are expensive such as 4.50)
At the border station in NC, I saw cartons going for 30-35 at the lowest.
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OGTubs
Stranger
Registered: 12/14/11
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Last seen: 2 months, 7 days
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: trip forever]
#16043372 - 04/04/12 03:53 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
trip forever said:
Damn, I live in Virginia and a carton here is 40-50. And an average pack of malboros is 3.50 (about the lowest I've seen, although more places are expensive such as 4.50)
At the border station in NC, I saw cartons going for 30-35 at the lowest.
Send me cartons? lol
I'm paying 52
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Nullface
Registered: 09/04/11
Posts: 4,555
Loc: USA
Last seen: 2 hours, 1 minute
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: OGTubs]
#16046450 - 04/05/12 07:05 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
OGTubs said:
Quote:
trip forever said:
Damn, I live in Virginia and a carton here is 40-50. And an average pack of malboros is 3.50 (about the lowest I've seen, although more places are expensive such as 4.50)
At the border station in NC, I saw cartons going for 30-35 at the lowest.
Send me cartons? lol
I'm paying 52
That's actually illegal.
Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 says so.
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downlowfunk
Retired Festival Veteran
Registered: 09/25/04
Posts: 645
Loc: Physical Realm
Last seen: 1 day, 11 hours
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: Nullface]
#16047286 - 04/05/12 01:18 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Nullface said:
Quote:
OGTubs said:
Quote:
trip forever said:
Damn, I live in Virginia and a carton here is 40-50. And an average pack of malboros is 3.50 (about the lowest I've seen, although more places are expensive such as 4.50)
At the border station in NC, I saw cartons going for 30-35 at the lowest.
Send me cartons? lol
I'm paying 52
That's actually illegal.
Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 says so.
jYah but if you pay w/ bitcoin they cant trace it. All their legislation is backing them into a corner and people aren't subscribing anymore.
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Nullface
Registered: 09/04/11
Posts: 4,555
Loc: USA
Last seen: 2 hours, 1 minute
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: downlowfunk]
#16047290 - 04/05/12 01:20 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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If it gets seized you get a fine most likely. That's the problem.
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OGTubs
Stranger
Registered: 12/14/11
Posts: 693
Last seen: 2 months, 7 days
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Re: Family Dollar Hopes To Hook Low-Income Shoppers With Cigarettes [Re: Nullface]
#16048241 - 04/05/12 04:21 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Nullface said:
Quote:
OGTubs said:
Quote:
trip forever said:
Damn, I live in Virginia and a carton here is 40-50. And an average pack of malboros is 3.50 (about the lowest I've seen, although more places are expensive such as 4.50)
At the border station in NC, I saw cartons going for 30-35 at the lowest.
Send me cartons? lol
I'm paying 52
That's actually illegal.
Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 says so.
I know, or I would just order them online lol
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