The North Carolina-based discount-store chain had submitted plans in early 2012 to open a 8,230-square-foot store at 2360 S. Smithville Road near Wilmington Pike, with a projected opening in the spring of 2013. But while some preliminary work was completed, the store was not built. Kettering Economic Development Manager Gregg Gorsuch said the company submitted revised plans earlier this year using differing building materials, and those plans have been approved.
The tract, adjacent to an O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store, has been vacant since the former Elder-Beerman department store was torn down in 2006. Family Dollar stores typically employ eight to 10 people, Cermak said.
The Family Dollar news comes as one of its competitors, Dollar General, announced it will host a grand opening at its new store at 8 a.m. this Saturday, Nov. 22 at 4963 Springboro Pike (Ohio 741) in West Carrollton. That tract has been vacant since 2008, when fire destroyed a Fricker’s restaurant on the site.
Family Dollar has been the subject of takeover/merger talks involving with both Dollar Tree and Dollar General.
Dissident shareholder groups have attempted to push Family Dollar into considering a $9.1 billion takeover bid by Dollar General, although Family Dollar’s board of directors and management have entered into a lower, $8.5 billion merger agreement with the smaller competitor, Dollar Tree.
All three have a significant presence in west-central and southwest Ohio, and all three have added multiple locations in the region in the last five years.
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