Family Dollar Buyout May Cost Marianna Jobs

Dollar Tree announced plans to buyout rival store Family Dollar.That would make Dollar Tree the largest dollar store retailer in the country, but Family Dollar has a distribution center in Jackson County.That has hundreds concerned about their jobs.

Almost 600 people make their living here at the Family Dollar distribution center in Marianna. Recent news that Dollar Tree is buying the operation has those working here concerned about their future jobs.

'The Family Dollar Distribution Center has been here for going on 10 years,' said Marianna City Manager Jim Dean. 'You know, you're talking about 400, 600 jobs. So it would be a huge impact to us if they even considered leaving. So its, there is that possibility, but I do not know for sure.'

At this time, no one in Jackson County is sure what will happen. They may not have any answers until next year. Until those plans are announced, city officials says its business as usual.

'It's very difficult to prepare for anything like that, but you know we're gonna take a positive approach. We have not been told by anyone from Family Dollar that anything is going to change,' he explained.

Dean said even though he's not sure what will happen, he believes this is less about jobs and more about beating the competition.

'This is a reaction to a potential hostile takeover by the Dollar General, and so instead of being taken over they did the alternative which was to have a friendly merger or buyout by Dollar Tree.'

There could be an upside to all this: instead of losing jobs there is always the possibility that more could be added at the Marianna center.

'If anything it adds to the network facilities that require distribution. It could potentially have a positive impact. There could be some job growth, but again no one has spoken to me directly,' he said.

The buyout is expected to be finalized early next year.

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