Should Dollar Tree be your first stop next time you want to go grocery shopping? While you can buy a number of pantry staples at the cheap chain store, you’re not going to find fresh fruits or veggies. And it’s not for lack of trying. At one point, Dollar Tree had plans for produce to become a major store addition.
In 2021, Dollar Tree tested a pilot store format called Dollar Tree Plus! at 280 stores in Colorado, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and the Carolinas. The locations offered fresh produce and frozen meats, and were introduced after testing sales of fresh produce at select Family Dollar stores in 2020. There were plans for Dollar General to offer fresh produce in about 1,700 stores by the end of that year. So, what became of this experiment? Chock it up to a combination of inflation, potential tariffs, and logistics.
In 2021, Dollar Tree raised all prices to a minimum of $1.25. The price of produce is expected to rise sooner than you may think due to tariffs, and according to Yahoo Finance, an estimated 40% of Dollar Tree’s sales are reliant on goods imported from China. Produce also didn’t work well with the chain’s business model, which focuses on keeping expenses down and avoiding wasted merchandise. Non-perishable foods require less labor, refrigeration, and constant restocking. Surprisingly though, there are some fancy foods you can buy at the Dollar Tree, for less than you would normally pay.
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Fresh items you can get at dollar stores
Hands holding a loaf bread in a store – Grace Cary/Getty Images
A number of Dollar Tree locations do offer some grocery basics, though it can be hit or miss. One of the essentials you should be grabbing from the Dollar Tree is bread, though your local store may get limited amounts of loaves of bread each week or month that are teetering on the verge of expiration. But, you may get lucky and have a local store where bread loaves are restocked nearly daily, or a location that has weekly deliveries of various breads, buns, and bagels. The closest most Dollar Tree locations get to produce is to stock canned and shelf stable fruits and vegetables. As for dairy, you’re unlikely to find a huge stock of fresh milk, but you may find butter, cream cheese, or smaller single-serve milk bottles.
The one “dollar” chain that does offer fresh produce regularly, at least at some of its locations, is Dollar General, which expanded its selection of fresh fare in 2021. Of its 20,000 locations, the chain has more than 5,000 locations with fruits and veggies. If you are looking to find a Dollar General store with produce near you, you can search the site and filter for stores that offer it.
Read the original article on Chowhound.
