Family Dollar is closing 4 stores in Ohio. After confirming selling the chain to a private consortium for $1 billion. Many customers were shocked to find out that the company’s leases of these premises expired. However, they have being having difficulties for a while. Family Dollar closed 1,000 stores in the United States only a few months ago.
Liquidation announcement though, were well received by the clients. Brianna Shannon, one of the last ones to go to the Deerfield store on Tuesday, 16 of December, told her story: “I was driving past, and I see ‘90% off one more day,’ and I hurried up in.” She then added that, “It’s sad to see it leave, but that’s how things are going nowadays.”
Which stores are closing and what does it mean to the neighbors?
The stores that will be closing before the end of the year:
- 16122 Lake Shore Boulevard, Cleveland (Collinwood)
- 936 W 25th St, Cleveland (Ohio City)
- 1342 OH-14, Deerfield
- 6339 E. State Route 113, Bellevue.
Dollar Tree, the parent company of Family Dollar, had already announced that the chain was being sold by $1 billion; However, at the time, it didn’t share with the media what the planned closures; most of the residents found out about it when shop signs where hanged.
Voices of the community and possible reasons
Neighbors talked about this closures mean to them. Ed Dean shared a memory from when the shop just opened, adding “That was a big thing in Deerfield 20 years ago. The whole community is going to miss it.” He also offered a simple explanation about the current retail market: “Apparently, they’re being oversaturated.” “There’s too many of them around. That store is always busy. I don’t understand why they’re closing.” And finally, he added “All local people worked there, and there’s a lot of jobs lost there too. It’s going to make it tough on the community.”
Amanda Carrington, from Fruitlands Farm Market, described what fore her, is a change of habits that’s causing shops to close: “Typically, a lot of people already travel to the bigger cities like Alliance or Ravenna to get their stuff—I just think it’s going to happen more.” She also pointed out the concern about the local commercial landscape: “If we knew it was going to turn into something like a restaurant or whatever, it might be like ‘Deerfield is changing for the better’.” But for Amanda, the image is completely different, “right now, we’re just seeing abandoned buildings in the area and it’s kind of sad.”
A tough year for anyone in the retail sector
During 2025 there has been thousands of closures hitting the consumers, workers and the retail market itself:
- Joann Fabrics filed for bankruptcy and closed 800 premises in 49 states; they has been trying to return since October.
- Claire’s filed for bankruptcy in August and closed 235 store, in addition to 56 Icing.
- Forever 21 declared bankruptcy in March and, by May, had closed approximately 354 stores in the U.S., with tentative plans to return.
- Macy‘s advances with the closure of 150 locations by 2026, including about 66 this year.
- Party City declared bankruptcy at the end of 2024 and the closures continued in 2025 until they ran out of stores (at about 850 less).
- Dollar General closed about 96 locations and 45 pOpshelf because of insufficient performance.
- GameStop closed more than 400 stores in January (and added dozens later).
- CVS closed about 270 as part of its simplification strategy, in addition to about 900 between 2022 and 2024.
- Walgreens is counting about 500 closures by the end of 2025, with a goal of 1,200 in the future.
- Carter‘s also reduced points of sale within a major plan of 150 closures for 2028.
What happens with the 4 Ohio locals right now matters especially on a local scale. But zooming out, it’s a reflection of how the U.S. is facing changes in consumers habits.