THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701230335
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 24 lines
Dollar Tree Stores Inc., a Norfolk-based retailer that sells goods for $1 each, said Wednesday its fourth-quarter earnings rose about 60 percent, mainly due to its continued rapid expansion.
Last year, the company bought the Dollar Bills chain of 136 stores and opened an additional 101 Dollar Tree stores. That brings the chain's store count to about 740.
In the three-month period ending Dec. 31, 1996, Dollar Tree earned $23.2 million. That's up from $14.5 million in the year-earlier quarter. Sales increased about 61 percent to $194.8 million from $121.2 million during the same time frame.
Dollar Tree felt some impact as shoppers held back on their purchases in November. ``But Christmas came back very strong,'' said Erica Robb, the company's director of investor services.
The retailer's annual earnings rose 61 percent to $33.8 million in 1996 from $21 million a year earlier.