First it was our homes. Then our groceries. Then our gas.
And now, supply chain shortages and inflation have gotten the best one of America's most sacred entities - the dollar store.
That's right, Dollar Tree....which earned it's name from the fact that pretty much everything there costs just a dollar...said they're raising their prices by 25%, pushing the cost of their merch to $1.25. The price hike will begin across most stores in December and roll out nationwide in the first quarter of 2022.
Publicly, the company claims that the root of the problem comes down to a pretty sizable increase in the cost of their supplies due to the same supply chain issues that are plaguing other retail outlets and grocers.
However, there are reports of investor and shareholder pressure to raise the price of goods, and in a letter to their shareholders they state that "the $1.25 price point allows the company to offer a wider range of merchandise, including items that had been discontinued at the $1 level."
In fact, this move to $1.25 goods has been talked about for years, as pointed out by one Twitter user with a headline from Yahoo! finance in 2019
There's also a lot of chatter online about the CEO of Dollar Tree, who made an over 10 million dollar salary last year while store employees are underpaid and stores grossly understaffed.
All that said, will you be shopping at Dollar Tree when it becomes "$1.25 Tree"?