The Town of Matthews will lose the headquarters of retail discounter Family Dollar next year. Dollar Tree, which acquired the retailer three years ago, announced that the Matthews operation will close and 700 of its 900 jobs will move to Dollar Tree’s headquarters in Virginia.
Matthews town officials say they are quote “disappointed” that Dollar Tree officials decided to close the Family Dollar headquarters. They were not available to answer any specific questions about the closure. In a press release, Matthews Mayor Paul Bailey called Family Dollar the largest employer in the town and a loss for the community.
"Family Dollar has been an important part of Matthews for many years," Bailey stated. "We are confident that the vibrancy of our community will see us through this transition."
In 2015 when Dollar Tree officials acquired Family Dollar for more than $9 billion, they said they would keep the discount retailer’s Monroe Road headquarters in Matthews open. Randy Guiler, Dollar Tree’s vice president for investor relations says for the sake of better collaboration and communications, they felt the best move for the company now is to consolidate the corporate operations under one roof.
The Matthews office is scheduled to close in the fall of 2019 and 700 of the operations’ 900 jobs will be transferred to Dollar Tree’s new, headquarters in Chesapeake, Virginia. Guiler says they are still deciding which of the remaining positions will be eliminated.
“None of the jobs will go away in 2018 and all of those folks can apply for positions in Chesapeake,” Guiler said. “We will help those who do not want to relocate to Chesapeake find other positions.”
However, Matthews employees are not guaranteed to be hired for the jobs they apply for in Chesapeake. Guiler says compensation packages are still being worked out. Matthews Mayor Bailey says they are reaching out to employers in the county to assist those who need help in finding other jobs.
Dollar Tree operates more than 15,000 retail discount stores in the U.S. and Canada. More than half of them carry the Family Dollar name.
