Dollarama

Dollarama Inc.
Open To All
Traded as TSX: DOL
S&P/TSX 60 component
Industry Retail
Founded 1992
Founder Larry Rossy
Headquarters Mount Royal, Quebec, Canada
Number of locations
 1,095[1] (2016)
Key people
 Neil Rossy, CEO[2]
Larry Rossy
(Executive Chairman)
Products Cleaning supplies, toys, candy, grocery, gifts, healthcare products, kitchenware, stationery, party supplies, hardware
Revenue Increase $2.9 billion CAD (2016)[3]
Increase $646.5 million CAD (2016)[3]
Increase $445.6 million CAD (2016)[3]
Number of employees
 Around 20,000 (2016)[4]
Website www.dollarama.com

Dollarama Inc. is a Canadian dollar store retail chain headquartered in Montreal. Since 2009, it has been Canada's largest retailer of items for four dollars or less.[5] Dollarama has over 1000 stores and has a presence in every province of Canada; Ontario has the most stores.[6]

History

The first Dollarama store was opened at the shopping centre "Les promenades du St-Laurent" in Matane. Lawrence Rossy was head of the then-parent company of Dollarama, the now-defunct Rossy S Inc. discount store chain (not to be confused with Rossy Michael, another discount chain). He founded the privately held chain in 1992 and created a profitable business that became very successful.[7] By the late 1990s, Dollarama had become by far the primary source of revenue for the Rossy family. As such, the Rossy S division was closed, with all of its stores either closed or converted into Dollarama stores.

In November 2004, 80 percent of the chain was sold for $850 million US, to a private equity fund, Bain Capital, of Boston, Massachusetts.[7]

In 2013, Dollarama was planning to expand its market to Latin America, and made an eight-year agreement to share its business expertise and provide sourcing services to Dollar City, a Salvadoran chain of dollar stores in Central America and Colombia in 2017.[8]

In 2016, Dollarama established a partnership with the Marco G. R. Enterprise, resulting in the sponsorship of the first edition of the Formula Windsor Championship.[9]

Business practices

A standalone Dollarama store in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood
Dollarama in Richmond Hill, Ontario

Many items are priced at $1.00 or less, and initially almost all items were priced as such.[7] In early 2009 Dollarama began to introduce items priced up to $2.00 (including $1.25 and $1.50 price points). Due to the positive response from consumers to the multi-price point strategy, the stores subsequently introduced items at $2.50 and $3.00 in August 2012. They again increased price points to include $3.50 and $4.00 items in August 2016. This price level increase allowed the chain to acquire products from a greater variety of sources, including closeout sales.[10] Adjustments may eventually happen to all prices.[11]

Payment in Dollarama stores was once by cash only, until Interac debit cards were added as a payment option beginning in 2008. Gift cards began to be offered in 2011. As of 2015, all Dollarama stores additionally support contactless Interac Flash payments. In March 2017, Dollarama announced that credit cards would be offered as a payment option at all stores by the end of summer 2018.[12] Customers will be able to pay with Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, following a successful pilot program.[13][14]

Many of the Dollarama stores are located where there once were BiWay stores, a defunct Canadian discount retail chain, which closed after a series of dubious financial transactions involving a new owner of the parent operation.[15]

Amongst Canadian dollar store chains, Dollarama has pioneered by sourcing customized products from manufacturers, evidenced by the numerous in-store items which have Dollarama's name or prices in their format printed on them. In mid-2009 it joined other retail chains in rolling out its own store brand, "D". Unlike most dollar/discount stores, it sources most of its products directly from manufacturers, rather than from local unknown distributors.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Fourth Quarter MD&A" (PDF). Dollarama Financial Information. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  2. ↑ "Officers - Dollarama".
  3. 1 2 3 "Fourth Quarter Earnings Release" (PDF). Dollarama Inc. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  4. ↑ http://www.dollarama.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Annual-Information-Form-2016.pdf
  5. ↑ "About Dollarama". Dollarama. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  6. ↑ "Dollarama History". Dollarama. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  7. 1 2 3 "Dollarama undergoes major transformation". Montreal: National Post. June 1, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-06-16.
  8. ↑ "Dollarama tests Latin America market".
  9. ↑ "Dollarama tests market in Latin America with sourcing deal".
  10. ↑ Silcoff, Sean (18 September 2008). "Million-dollar question: Are $5 stores up next?". The Globe and Mail.
  11. ↑ "Dollarama could raise prices above $3". CBC News. 25 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Dollarama to open more stores, start accepting credit cards". The Globe and Mail. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  13. ↑ "Dollarama to start testing credit cards in British Columbia". Global News. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  14. ↑ Marowits, Ross (9 December 2015). "Four-Dollarama: Budget retailer raising its top prices Canada-wide". CTV News. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  15. ↑ "Stores we miss". MSN Money. Retrieved 25 Feb 2012.
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