Family Dollar to Open in September

The future Family Dollar in Willow Springs has cleared what is hoped to be its final administrative hurdle. At the City Council meeting on April 15, the Board of Aldermen unanimously voted to approve the ordinance that establishes a Community Improvement District (CID) that is strictly limited to the Family Dollar location. At this store, customers can expect to pay an additional 1% sales tax, a total tax of 8.412%, on purchases. The CID does not include any other businesses in Willow Springs. 

There was an opportunity for public comments and questions on the CID during a public hearing that immediately preceded the meeting. There were no public comments or questions. 

The CID is not a wholesale tax increase, confirmed City Administrator Beverly Hicks, but rather a higher sales tax rate consumers will pay if they choose to shop at Family Dollar. The additional 1% will reimburse the developer, Guffey Development, for their investment in revitalizing a blighted area of Willow Springs. 

Kevin Guffey, president of Guffey Development, described the new prototype of Family Dollar that he will implement here during the TIF hearing on October 15. It will not be a store in direct competition with Dollar General, he said at that time. The inventory will be heavier on food items than retail offerings. The store will feature 100 feet of coolers and freezers as well as a “snack zone,” said Guffey. 

“It’s going to be something that should pull people from outside the city. It’s a new prototype,” he explained. 

Approximately two weeks after this hearing, the developer that owns the land on which the former Sonic franchise stood, abruptly closed the fast food location and began moving forward with plans to relocate Dollar General to that location on the south side of East Main and Cherry. 

The 11,000 square-foot Family Dollar is expected to open across the street in September.