Soft lines are bright spot for Family Dollar stores

By Cecile B. Corral -- Home Textiles Today, 3/29/2004 12:00:00 AM

MATTHEWS, N.C. —

While consumables continue to be its core product offerings, with more and more square footage being devoted to them at the expense of apparel, Family Dollar described its home soft lines as a "bright spot" of its merchandise mix.

Therefore, it has begun enhancing soft lines with more coordination and higher-quality goods, reported the company during its second-quarter conference call

George Mahoney Jr., executive vice president, said Family Dollar has spent the past six months stepping up the fashion looks and quality of these goods — working with suppliers as well as sourcing product directly — and making an effort to offer more coordination across its broad range of textiles product categories.

Those categories include: sheets, top-of-bed products, bath and beach towels, decorative pillows, throws, sleep pillows, window treatments, bath rugs, area and accent rugs, runners and doormats.

"We are pleased with our merchandise initiatives in the home area, which provides customers with fully coordinated merchandise for home decorating," said Howard Levine, chairman of the board and CEO. "We believe this coordinated merchandise strategy, coupled with adjacencies in the store of related goods, will allow for achievement of high margins for these merchandise categories."

He added that Family Dollar "believes very strongly" in supporting its basic assortment with seasonal fashion and opportunity-type purchases in this area.

In other company news, Family Dollar's Florida-based distribution center is under construction and on track for opening in early winter.