Family Dollar 2011 Annual Report Download - page 8

PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
General Overview
We operate a chain of more than 7,000 general merchandise retail discount stores in 44 states, providing
primarily low- and middle-income consumers with a selection of competitively priced merchandise in convenient
neighborhood stores. Our merchandise assortment includes Consumables, Home Products, Apparel and
Accessories, and Seasonal and Electronics. We sell merchandise at prices that generally range from less than $1
to $10.
We opened our first Family Dollar store in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1959. In subsequent years, we
opened additional stores and organized separate corporations to operate these stores. Family Dollar Stores, Inc.
was incorporated in Delaware in 1969, and all then-existing corporate entities became its wholly-owned
subsidiaries.
The mailing address of our executive offices is P.O. Box 1017, Charlotte, North Carolina 28201-1017, and
our telephone number is [phone]. Our website address is www.familydollar.com. You can find our press
releases for the past five years on our website. We also make available free of charge through our website all of
our reports filed with or furnished to the SEC pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the
“Exchange Act”), including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current
Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after they are
electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. In addition, the public may read and copy any of the materials
we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington DC 20549. The
public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at
1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and
other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. The address of that Web site is
http://www.sec.gov.
Our Mission and Vision
Our mission is to provide our customers with a compelling place to shop, our team members with a
compelling place to work, and our investors with a compelling place to invest. Our vision is to be the best small-
format convenience and value retailer serving the needs of families in our neighborhoods.
Our Growth Strategy
We believe that balancing initiatives targeted to deliver short-term financial results with investments that
may require longer-term development will help us weather difficult macro-environments and enable us to
achieve our long-term financial goals. During fiscal 2011, we focused on achieving our four corporate goals:
build customer loyalty and experience; develop diverse, high performing teams; deliver profitable sales growth;
and drive continuous improvement. These goals are designed to drive both short-term and longer-term financial
results.
Build customer loyalty and experience
In today’s uncertain economic environment, value and convenience continues to resonate with consumers.
Our strategy of providing customers with value and convenience continues to attract not only core low-income
customers, but also middle-income families with greater frequency. To continue to capitalize on this opportunity,
we have launched several initiatives to enhance the customer’s shopping experience and improve their perception
of our value and convenience proposition.
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