Store wars

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers IS A DOUBLE-DOLLAR PRICE WAR ONE TOO MANY?—Dollar Store Plus and Dollar Tree stand next to each other in the Vons shopping center at Moorpark and Janss roads in Thousand Oaks. The two retailers are competing for the same customers- - not only in the same mall but side by side. It's not often shoppers see two stores with the same merchandise competing for business in the same shopping center.

That's what's happening in Thousand Oaks as Dollar Store Plus struggles for survival now that national chain Dollar Tree has opened a bigger store right next door.

The two stores are near McDonald's in the Vons shopping center at Janss and Moorpark roads.

Signs with balloons have been placed outside the stores to entice customers.

Former floral business owner and Thousand Oaks resident Toni Charlton, 42, was looking at the Dollar Tree's artificial Christmas flower display outside the door.

"I feel sorry for the Dollar Plus store. I think it's a conflict of interest to have the same type stores right next to each other. It isn't right," she said.

As she arranged a bouquet, Charlton said she's been and will continue to be a loyal customer of both stores. She said she had to drive to Camarillo to go to the Dollar Tree until it recently opened in Thousand Oaks.

"One store is a little fish and the other is a big whale."

Thirty-year Thousand Oaks resident Amy Kazmie, owner of the Dollar Store Plus, isn't happy about her new neighbor.

"Dollar Tree's opening has had a huge impact on our sales—we're 60 to 70 percent down from last year." Dollar Tree has undercut her prices on paper products, kitchenware and foil, Kazmie said.

The Dollar Store Plus has some items marked at more than $1. Everything at the Dollar Tree is $1.

The Dollar Tree began as Ben Franklin's five-and-dime store 20 years ago. Over time, the company expanded by purchasing other dollar-type store chains and now has hundreds of stores in all 48 contiguous states.

"Someday the only stores we're going to be able to shop at are Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart. They'll be the only stores left," Kazmie said.

The bigger the chain, the more buying power it has. Stores can use that to lower prices in a way single-store owners like Kazmie cannot.

Still, the Dollar Store Plus owner, who's been at the center for more than five years, isn't ready to give up, she said.

She put a sign out front, and Dollar Tree put a sign out front. She added a balloon to her sign, and they added a balloon; she added another balloon; they added another balloon, she said. Now she has two bigger balloons on her sign.

Kazmie has also lowered some of her prices and hopes customers will come in and see what her store has to offer, but right now it's pretty dismal. Her store is empty, when last December it was bustling with holiday customers.

"Next door it's new—it's novel, and people like that," she said.

"With all the real estate available everywhere, they could have gone anywhere. Why did they have to pick here?" Kazmie asked.

Dollar Tree spokesperson Shelly Davis said she was unaware of the specific location of the Thousand Oaks store and had no knowledge of another store with "dollar" in its name being right next door. The company prefers to locate Dollar Tree stores near retailers such as a Wal-Mart, Target or supermarkets that attract foot traffic, she said.

Stores currently number 3,572 and about 300 are added each year.

Dollar Tree customers are typically women ages 35 to 50 with children and a household income of under $50,000 a year, Davis said. The store also attracts college students, elderly people on a budget and schoolteachers who make purchases from the teacher's corner section of the store, she said.

"We have wide aisles, bright windows and extreme values," she said.