Dollar Tree 2009 Annual Report Download - page 6

Our฀plan฀for฀2010฀includes฀220฀new฀Dollar฀Tree฀stores,฀25฀new฀Deal$฀stores฀
and฀75฀relocations฀for฀a฀total฀of฀320฀projects.฀Over฀the฀longer฀term,฀we฀believe฀we฀
can operate 7,000 Dollar Tree stores across the country and the Deal$ model expands
this number.
We are developing new concepts to drive future growth, including Deal$ and Dollar
Tree฀Direct.฀฀Deal$฀is฀our฀multi-price฀initiative.฀By฀the฀end฀of฀2009฀we฀were฀op-
erating 157 Deal$ stores including 19 new Deal$ stores that were added during the
year.฀At฀Deal$,฀not฀everything’s฀$1,฀but฀everything฀is฀a฀value.฀In฀2009฀we฀continued฀
to improve the operating metrics at Deal$, upgrading our standards to provide a more
compelling฀customer฀experience.฀In฀2009,฀we฀saw฀improving฀sales฀trends฀at฀our฀Deal$฀
stores, particularly in the new stores that we’ve opened in the past three years.
Deal$฀trafc,฀ticket฀and฀average฀unit฀retail฀all฀increased฀in฀2009.฀We฀are฀seeing฀
positive customer response across a broad range of categories, particularly in items
not available at our 3,651 Dollar Tree stores. We are offering more vari-
ety, more brands and more overall value.
Looking฀forward฀to฀2010,฀we฀will฀continue฀to฀build฀and฀rene฀our฀
assortment to create more merchandise excitement, increase the “Wow”
factor and give our customers more reasons to shop at Deal$. We will
also continue to focus our real estate strategy on rolling out new Deal$
stores in targeted locations in a measured and thoughtful way.
In฀the฀rst฀quarter฀of฀2009,฀we฀launched฀our฀e-commerce฀platform,฀“Dollar
Tree Direct,” as another way to offer Dollar Tree values to more customers, in-
cluding organizations, small businesses and individual customers planning events.
Dollar฀Tree฀Direct฀is฀off฀to฀a฀great฀start฀and฀2009฀was฀only฀the฀beginning.฀We฀
see฀major฀potential฀to฀grow฀this฀business.฀฀As฀2010฀unfolds,฀we฀will฀continue฀to฀
expand our assortment and increase the number of items available exclusively
on Dollar Tree Direct and continuously enhance the site to make it increasingly
customer-friendly.
Corporate Governance and Shareholder Value
Dollar Tree, through its Board of Directors and its executive management
team, has a long-standing commitment to responsible corporate governance and to
building฀value฀for฀our฀long-term฀shareholders.฀The฀majority฀of฀the฀Board฀is฀com-
prised of independent directors; all of the standing committees of the Board consist
entirely of independent directors and we have a lead independent director. We have
also฀added฀four฀new฀independent฀directors฀since฀July฀2007.฀฀
The Board regularly reviews the Company’s governance practices as well as
what are considered to be the best governance practices of public corporations.
Several governance changes have been implemented in recent years and in
2009฀we฀created฀the฀new฀position฀of฀Vice฀President,฀Corporate฀Governance฀and฀
Corporate Counsel. This officer now serves as the liaison with our shareholders
on governance matters. We established this new position to provide a more direct
channel for communications with shareholders to ensure an open dialogue on an
ongoing basis and to promote increased understanding of industry standards for
best practices in corporate governance as they evolve.
Above all, we believe in strict adherence to our core values of honesty, integrity
and transparency in all aspects of our business. These values are reflected in the
strength of our financial controls and in our relationships with customers, suppliers,
associates and our shareholders.
For฀ 2009,฀ we฀once฀again฀ earned฀a฀“clean฀bill฀of฀ health”฀ with฀no฀material฀
weakness noted in our assessment of controls supporting the accounting and
‘05 ‘06 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09
18.7%
16.4%
20.5%
23.9%
14.9%
Return on
Shareholders’ Equity
4฀฀฀DOLLAR฀TREE,฀INC.฀•฀2009฀Annual฀Report
Dollar Tree has a long-standing commitment
to responsible corporate governance and to
building value for our long-term shareholders.