SHELDON—Family Dollar/Dollar Tree in Sheldon opened with little fanfare.
The signs for the store at 909 Park St. were placed more than a month ago and a “Coming Soon” banner was added to the glass entryway at about the same time.
Cars and trucks filled the parking lot as employees were trained and shelves were stocked, but an official opening day was not announced.
On the morning of Friday, Sept. 8, the “Coming Soon” banner was gone, and a few “Now Open” signs were placed along the Highway 18 curbside to signify Family Dollar/Dollar Tree was open for business.
The late notice did not detour anyone from coming as the parking lot was almost full throughout the day as people wanted to check out what the variety/discount store had to offer.
“This is amazing for something like this to come to Sheldon,” said April Maae, who has lived in Sheldon for most of her life. “I feel like we will have more of a variety of things, things that we can’t find in other places here in town.”
It was about a year ago when US Federal Properties in Kansas City, which represents Dollar Tree Inc., announced the plans during the Sept. 21, 2022, city council meeting to build a combination Family Dollar/Dollar Tree in Sheldon at the site of the former Digital Plus.
The two buildings formerly on the property were demolished and work began on the foundation for the store before the end of 2022.
Work started again on the steel frame building in the spring, and it was fully finished about a month ago. The next step was to train the employees and stock the store, allowing the doors to open to the community on Friday.
Shana DeBoer of Archer found her way into Family Dollar/Dollar Tree Friday afternoon and wandered the aisles to see what the store had to offer.
“It’s great because I think there are things they can get here that you can’t get at other stores maybe in town or regular household items that your Walmart or big chain stores have,” she said. “Without having to drive 45 minutes, you can find something here.”
When Mike Belew of US Federal Properties explained the store to the council in September 2021, he said combining the two popular chains into one dual-concept store was something the company had just started doing.
The Family Dollar portion of the store takes up more than half of the building. Family Dollar is a variety store chain similar to Dollar General.
Dollar Tree’s portion of the store is on the building’s left side. Dollar Tree was known for offering all its items for $1 until November 2021 when it raised its prices to $1.25. There were glasses, bowls, plates and containers along the Dollar Tree side along with cards and crafts that vary for the holiday season. Halloween and fall decorative items lined a couple of the shelves on Dollar Tree’s side.
Steph Wolf perused through the fall items to see what decorations she could find for her desk at East Elementary.
“Dollar Tree is $1.25, so of course that’s excellent value if you find something on that side of the store,” she said.
Family Dollar/Dollar Tree offers food items that can be found at Hy-Vee or Fareway or regular items that can be found at Ben Franklin, Downtown Hardware or even Dollar General.
But Sheldon is growing as about 500 people moved to town between 2010 and 2020, according to the last census, so there is a need for more retail stores like Family Dollar/Dollar Tree in the community of more than 5,500.
“It will fit in naturally,” Wolf said. “We frequent the grocery stores in town, too, but this might just have a little price decrease on something we’re looking for or that we would have to drive to Walmart for.”
DeBoer added that she always wants to support hometown stores.
“It’s clean, and it’s a nice addition to town,” DeBoer said.
The Family Dollar/Dollar Tree is managed by Jeff Nemmers, who is from Sheldon, and is open 8 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.
For Maae, having a Family Dollar/Dollar Tree means she can get a few items instead of having to go to Walmart since the closest one is in Sioux Center.
“I can stay in town,” she said. “I don’t have to wait until my next trip to Walmart. That’s a long way to go to get a strainer for my shower. I just think it’s fabulous that Sheldon let this come in. It’s just a great experience. I’ve seen things come and go, so it’s nice it’s here.”
