The Dollar Tree, a favorite shopping option of bargain hunters, will increase its baseline price for items from its namesake dollar to $1.25, the company said Tuesday.
President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Witynski blamed inflation for the need to bump up prices but insisted that Dollar Tree customers will roll with the price-tag punches.
“Our Dollar Tree pricing tests have demonstrated broad consumer acceptance of the new price point and excitement about the additional offerings and extreme value we will be able to provide,” Witynski said in a statement, detailing third-quarter company earnings.
“Accordingly, we have begun rolling out the $1.25 price point at all Dollar Tree stores nationwide.”
While some items inside Dollar Tree stores cost more than $1, the company is well known for holding nearly all its goods to that one-dollar, per-unit price point, according to Neil Saunders, an analyst at GlobalData Retail.
Most of the company’s loyal customers understand the nation’s struggles with inflation and supply chain slowdowns and will likely stick with Dollar Tree despite having to shell out $1.25 for many items, Saunders predicted.
“It’s not helpful, but it’s not disastrous,” Saunders said.
Sucharita Kodali, vice president and principal analyst of Forrester Research, also said customers would get over any initial sticker shock.
“I think if there are specific items that people are used to buying for a dollar, like soda or a candy bar, it could be a shock to have a higher price but at the same time, I don’t know that people will riot,” she said. “Most people see it as a quarter, not as 25 percent inflation.”
With a higher price ceiling, the company claimed it can offer more products that couldn’t be carried with a strict adherence to a $1 cap.
Dollar Tree now has the “ability to materially expand its offerings, introduce new products and sizes, and provide families with more of their daily essentials,” according to a company statement.
It’s unlikely the store will change its familiar name.
“The ‘One Dollar and a Quarter Tree store’ doesn’t have the same ring to it,” Saunders quipped.