we have a handful of these stores around similiar to Dollar Giant which was recently bought out by Dollar tree... hopefully see some of the other so-called dollar stores shut down when they sell $30 items they ain't a Dollar store
Dollarama targets West as it accelerates discount network expansion in 2011
Ross Marowits, The Canadian Press, On Wednesday December 8, 2010, 1:36 pm EST
By Ross Marowits, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL - Dollarama will accelerate store expansion next year, particularly in Western Canada as the Montreal-based retailer continues to build the leading Canadian discount chain.
The company plans to add 50 stores in 2011 with one-third to 40 per cent of the growth being focused in Western Canada. That follows some 45 stores added in the past year, mostly in Ontario.
"With the penetration rate we have in Quebec, 900 to 1,000 stores doesn't seem to be a problem," Larry Rossy, CEO of the chain which currently has more than 600 stores, said Wednesday during a conference call.
However, Rossy wouldn't say if that is the ultimate size the chain hopes to one day run. Much depends on available locations and market opportunities.
But Dollarama (TSX
OL) said its business model, which limits prices to $2, means it can't expand as much as some U.S. players which offer a broader range of products valued up to $20.
Much of the growth out West will be in free-standing big box locations. While it will add some larger stores elsewhere, the decision about size will be made on a store-by-store basis, Rossy said.
Dollarama said its profits surged to $31.3 million in the third-quarter as the discount retailer's sales increased 13.7 per cent and expenses were tightened.
Diluted earnings per share were 42 cents for the three-month period ended Oct. 31, compared with a profit of $1.1 million or two cents per share a year earlier.
Sales rose to $355.7 million from $312.8 million.
Analysts had forecast Dollarama would earn 38 cents per share on $351 million in revenues.
Much of the increase in revenue was the result of 45 new store openings over the past year and the sale of higher-priced items. It also benefited from lower interest expenses from reducing its debt and an eight per cent increase in sales at stores open at least a year.
The comparable stores sales growth was the result of a 1.6 per cent increase in the number of transactions and a 6.3 per cent increase in the average transaction size.
The pace of the same-store sales growth should weaken but will remain between three and eight per cent going forward, Rossy told analysts.
Dollarama enjoyed very strong sales growth last Christmas amid perfect shopping weather conditions. Same-store sales grew by 17 per cent last December.
"We can get knocked around pretty badly with weather, which we have been in the last week or so. And when you're talking weather in December that's big dollars."
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http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Dol...29617.html?x=0