For three years, the Family Dollar/Dollar Tree combo store has been popular as there are hundreds of stores opening all over the country.

Now, another Family Dollar/Dollar Tree combo store plans to open soon. This time, it will be in Montgomery City. The 10,500 square foot store will open at 300 S. Sturgeon either in December or January.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on July 19 at the site with several city officials in attendance such as Montgomery City Mayor Mike Spirz, City Administrator Steve Deves and Montgomery City Area Chamber of Commerce President Desiree Peak.

“I think it’s going to be a great thing for Montgomery City,” Spirz said. “I think the people in Montgomery City are going to use this store a lot. It’s like Dollar General. It’s going to be a neighborhood store with easy access. I think there will be people from all walks of life using this store.”

Store owner Kevin Guffey is working to clear the property to get the store constructed. Currently, there is an abandoned house that is sitting on the site and will be torn down.

“We’re looking forward to bringing it to Montgomery City,” Guffey said. “We’re looking forward to working with the city and getting the store built and open right after the first of the year.”

Guffey said he enjoyed the groundbreaking ceremony despite the hot and humid conditions.

“I really appreciated it,” Guffey said. “We like to do this to meet the city officials. We work really hard to work with cities so we’ll have a good smooth construction development. At the end of the day, everybody is pleased with it.”

A site selection employee named Kent Beck picked the site for the new store.

“This is the site that they really wanted in town,” Guffey said. “They hope that, since it’s centrally located, they could service the whole community.”

Guffey said he builds about 12 Family Dollar/Dollar Tree stores a year, most of them are in Missouri and Kansas. Construction at stores in New Madrid and Portageville will be finished at the end of July.

“It keeps us busy,” Guffey said.

The Montgomery City store will have one side carrying Family Dollar items and the other featuring Dollar Tree products. Stephen Rollins, division manager of Family Dollar and Dollar Tree, said plans of opening a store in Montgomery City began last year.

“It takes that long for us to identify property and negotiate and get property purchases before we can move forward in leasing and stuff,” Rollins said. “We just closed on the property on the first of July.”

Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar for $8.5 billion in 2014. Both are discount stores that sell products for at least $1.
The first Family Dollar/Dollar Tree combo store was opened in 2019. The two companies focus on opening combo stores in small towns with populations of a few thousand people.

“The Family Dollar/Dollar Tree combo store is a new concept,” Rollins said. “They’ve got about 600 or 800 opening nationwide right now. They’re going to go to probably over 3,000 of those combo stores over the next few years. They’re targeted to rural markets where people have limited shopping opportunities. That’s why they’re heavy in groceries and general merchandise.”

Currently, the nearest Family Dollar/Dollar Tree combo store is located in Hermann, off Highway 19. The store opened on July 22, 2021.