Family Dollar to undertake $100M rebuild of Arkansas distribution center shuttered after rodent infestation

Family Dollar parent Dollar Tree on Wednesday announced plans to invest $100 million in the reopening of a West Memphis, Arkansas, distribution center that was shuttered last year not long after federal authorities detailed a massive rodent infestation at the facility.

Chesapeake, Virginia-based Dollar Tree said the updated distribution center, slated to open by fall 2024, will be “fully reimagined and refreshed” with a full interior demolition and wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling rebuild. The 850,000-square-foot facility will include added features such as building-wide temperature control, automated LED lighting, racking, expanded amenities for workers and office space, the retailer said.

Dollar Tree closed the nearly 30-year-old West Memphis distribution center in May 2022, blaming the shutdown on the building’s age, according to local reports.

Dollar Tree did not immediately respond early Wednesday to a WGB request to comment on the reopening or on any previous investigations of the site by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The renovated West Memphis facility will be able to serve up to 1,000 Family Dollar stores in the region, Dollar Tree said in a statement, adding that the discount retailer plans to open dozens more Family Dollar and Dollar Tree stores in Arkansas through 2026. Currently, the company operates more than 200 stores in the state.

Related:More Than 400 Family Dollar Stores Closed After Recall

“This is more than a reopening, it’s a transformation,” Mike Kindy, Dollar Tree’s EVP and chief supply chain officer, said in a statement. “This integral distribution center will drive industry-leading product safety standards, offer an excellent employment experience, strengthen our bonds with the community and better support our Family Dollar stores who depend on us throughout the region.”

Rebuilding will focus on safety, sanitation and compliance and will “serve as a model of excellence for all facilities in the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar network,” the retailer said.

The FDA, in inspections of the West Memphis distribution center in January and February of last year, found widespread evidence of live rodents, decaying rodents, rodent excrement and “gnawings, nesting and odors indicative of rodents throughout the entirety of your facility including areas where human food is routinely stores,” according to its report.

From March 29, 2021 to Sept. 17, 2021, more than 2,300 rodents were captured in bait boxes at the facility, the FDA said.

Following the FDA’s report, Family Dollar in February 2022 temporarily closed more than 400 stores and began a recall of certain FDA-regulated products.

Once reopened, about 300 people will be employed at the remodeled West Memphis facility, the same number as were laid off following the closure.

“I am thrilled to see Family Dollar transform and reopen its West Memphis facility,” Mayor Marco McClendon said in a statement. “It’s exciting to see the company invest in its business and in the community. The rebuild demonstrates the commitment Family Dollar is making here, including more jobs, best-in-class safety and a closer connection with all of us.”

For the quarter ended July 29, the retailer operated 8,299 Family Dollar stores and 8,177 Dollar Tree locations.