Dollarama

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Dollarama Inc.
Company type Public
TSX:  DOL
S&P/TSX 60 component
Industry Retail
Founded1992;34 years ago (1992)
FounderLarry Rossy
Headquarters Mount Royal, Quebec
Number of locations
2,582 (2025 [1] )
Key people
Neil Rossy, CEO [2]
Larry Rossy
(Executive Chairman)
ProductsCleaning supplies, toys, candy, grocery, gifts, healthcare products, kitchenware, stationery, party supplies, hardware
RevenueIncrease2.svg $5.052 billion CAD (2023) [3]
Increase2.svg $1.523 billion CAD (2023)
Increase2.svg $1.191 billion CAD (2023) [3]
Number of employees
Around 24,000 (2023)
Subsidiaries The Reject Shop
Dollarcity
Website dollarama.com

Dollarama Inc. is a Canadian dollar store retail chain headquartered in Mount Royal, Quebec. [4] Since 2009, Dollarama has been Canada's biggest retailer of items for five dollars or less. [5] It has over 1400 stores and is active in all of Canada; Ontario has the most stores. [6] The company also owns The Reject Shop, an Australian variety store chain, and is the majority owner of Dollarcity, a dollar store chain which operates in Latin America.

Contents

History

Rossy S Inc.

The first all-dollar store was founded in Montreal in 1910 by Salim Rassy, a Lebanese immigrant, whose name became Rossy. [7] [8] His son George took over the retailer in 1937 and led the company until his death in 1973 when grandson Larry Rossy assumed leadership of it when it had 20 stores. [7] The discount retailer grew to 44 stores by 1992 which until then operated under the corporate name Rossy S Inc. but traded simply as Rossy. [a]

Dollarama

In 1992, Larry Rossy opened the first Dollarama at the shopping center "Les Promenades du St-Laurent" in Matane. The Dollarama division rapidly overtook Rossy S as the primary source of revenue for the Rossy family. Locations of Rossy S were rare after 1997 and the chain quietly disappeared by the turn of the new millennium with all of its stores either closed outright or converted into Dollarama branches. After converting all the locations to the dollar store concept, Larry Rossy continued to open new stores eventually reaching 1,000 stores in 2015. [7]

In November 2004, 80 percent of the chain was sold to a private equity fund Bain Capital for US$850 million. [10] Dollarama's initial public offering took place on 9 October 2009. [11] In 2016, Dollarama established a partnership with the Marco G. R. Enterprise, resulting in the sponsorship of the first edition of the Formula Windsor Championship. [12] In 2018, Dollarama recalled over 50,000 children's toys due to dangerous levels of phthalates. [13]

The number of stores in October 2021 was 539 in Ontario, 379 in Québec, 134 in Alberta, 111 in British Columbia, 42 in New Brunswick, 41 in Manitoba, 40 in Nova Scotia, 40 in Saskatchewan, 25 in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 5 in Prince Edward Island. [14] The company announced that it would open 700 new locations across Canada (including a few replacements for some of the Great Canadian Dollar Store locations) in the aforementioned provinces as well as their first store in the Yukon Territory.

Dollarcity

In 2013, Dollarama signed an eight-year agreement to share its business expertise and provide sourcing services to Dollarcity, a 15-outlet dollar store chain in El Salvador and Guatemala. [15] [16] By March 2019, Dollarcity had grown to 180 stores (44 in El Salvador, 54 in Guatemala and 82 in Colombia). In July 2019, Dollarama acquired a 50.1 percent stake in Dollarcity. [17] Dollarcity expanded to Peru in 2021. [18] Dollarama purchased an additional 10 percent stake in Dollarcity in 2024, bringing its total ownership to 60.1 percent. [19] Dollarcity expanded into Mexico in 2025 through a new entity called Inversiones Comerciales Mexicanas (ICM) which is 80 percent owned by Dollarama. [18] [20]

The Reject Shop

On 26 March 2025, Dollarama announced they would be acquiring Australian discount retailer The Reject Shop for CA$233 million (A$259 million). [21] The investor presentation said it will deliver a “dollarama shopping experience” with a new store layout, design and merchandising experience. [22] The Reject Shop stores would be rebadged as Dollarama. [23]

Business practices

A standalone Dollarama store in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood Parkdale Dollarama.jpg
A standalone Dollarama store in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood
Dollarama in Square One, Mississauga, ON Dollarama in Square One Mississauga 2023.jpg
Dollarama in Square One, Mississauga, ON

Many items are priced at $1.00 or less, and initially almost all items were priced as such. [10] In early 2009, Dollarama began to introduce items priced up to $2.00 (including $1.25 and $1.50 price points). The stores introduced items at $2.50 and $3.00 in August 2012. It again increased price points to include $3.50 and $4.00 items in August 2016. In 2022, Dollarama announced that its maximum price point would be increasing to $5.00. [24] This price level increase allowed the chain to acquire products from a greater variety of sources, including closeout sales. [25] Adjustments may eventually happen to all prices. [26] Dollarama has always had a No Return and No Exchange Policy, stating an item cannot be given back to the store once a purchase is complete.[ citation needed ]

Payment in Dollarama stores was once by cash only, until Interac debit cards were added as a payment option beginning in 2008. Gift cards began to be offered in 2011. As of 2015, all Dollarama stores also support contact-less Interac Flash payments. In March 2017, Dollarama announced that credit cards would be offered as a payment option at all stores by the end of summer 2018. [27]

Many Dollarama stores were opened in place of former locations of the now defunct BiWay,[ citation needed ] which closed after a series of dubious financial transactions involving a new owner of the parent operation. [28] Dollarama launched its online store on 21 January 2019 where it will sell many of its products in bulk. [29] Only 1000 of the roughly 4000 products offered in Dollarama stores will be sold online, namely items that are easily purchased in bulk. [30]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Not to be confused with Rossy Michael Ltd., a similar chain founded in 1949 by another son of Salim Rassy [9]

References

  1. ↑ "Dollarama to acquire Australian discount retailer The Reject Shop" (PDF). Dollarama. 2025-03-26. Retrieved 2026-01-30..{{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help); line feed character in |title= at position 50 (help)
  2. ↑ "Officers - Dollarama".
  3. 1 2 "DOLLARAMA REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND FISCAL YEAR 2023 RESULTS". Dollarama Inc. 28 December 2023.
  4. ↑ TMR-based Dollarama posts strong financial report despite COVID
  5. ↑ "Dollar stores in Canada- Statistics & Facts". Statista. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  6. ↑ "Dollarama History". Dollarama. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  7. 1 2 3 Linde, Damon van der (30 March 2016). "Larry Rossy hands off CEO's job at Dollarama to his son Neil as retailer hikes dividend on higher earnings". Financial Post.
  8. ↑ Cowan, James (7 April 2011). "Retail: The genius of Dollarama". CanadianBusiness. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  9. ↑ "About".
  10. 1 2 "Dollarama undergoes major transformation". Montreal: National Post. 1 June 2006. Archived from the original on 16 June 2006.
  11. ↑ "Dollarama shares soar after IPO | CBC News".
  12. ↑ Shaw, Hollie (5 February 2013). "Dollarama tests market in Latin America with sourcing deal". Financial Post.
  13. ↑ Keith, Elizabeth. "Dollarama Just Recalled Over 50,000 Toys In Canada Over Dangerous Chemical Levels For The Second Time This Year". Narcity . Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  14. ↑ "Dollarama stores Canada by province 2021". Statista. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  15. ↑ "Dollarama tests Latin America market". The Globe and Mail . 5 February 2013.
  16. ↑ Shaw, Hollie (5 February 2013). "Dollarama tests market in Latin America with sourcing deal". Financial Post. Archived from the original on 19 January 2025. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  17. ↑ "Dollarama signs deal for stake in Latin American retailer Dollarcity". CBC News. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  18. 1 2 Scianna, Mary (26 June 2025). "Dollarama expands with first Dollarcity in Mexico". Grocery Business Magazine. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  19. ↑ "Dollarama ups stake in Latin American business Dollarcity, plans expansion to Mexico". The Globe and Mail. 12 June 2024. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  20. ↑ del Campo, Michelle (12 June 2024). "Dollarcity prepara expansión a México de la mano de la canadiense Dollarama". Bloomberg Línea (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  21. ↑ Steffens, Miriam; Grant, Gemma (26 March 2025). "'Money from heaven': The Reject Shop set for $259m sale to Canadian giant". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
  22. ↑ "Dollarama to acquire Australian discount retailer The Reject Shop" (PDF). Dollarama. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
  23. ↑ Greenblat, Eli (31 August 2025). "Reject Shop revamp to rival Kmart, Target and Big W". The Australian. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  24. ↑ "Five-Dollarama? Discount store to increase price range to $5 or less next fiscal year". Montreal. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  25. ↑ Silcoff, Sean (18 September 2008). "Million-dollar question: Are $5 stores up next?". The Globe and Mail.
  26. ↑ "Dollarama could raise prices above $3". CBC News. 25 March 2015.
  27. ↑ "Dollarama to open more stores, start accepting credit cards". The Globe and Mail . 30 March 2017. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  28. ↑ "Stores we miss". MSN Money. Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  29. ↑ "Dollarama Officially Opens an Online Store". CTV news. 21 January 2019.
  30. ↑ "Dollarama launches online store for bulk purchases". CBC News . 22 January 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
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