Dollarama Inc. says it’s not worried about the arrival to Canada and growth plans of Chinese dollar store chain Miniso.
Dollarama CEO Neil Rossy said during a conference call about its latest quarterly results,”We consider them a pure China-based, Chinese import dollar store.They do a very nice job in stores about one quarter to one third the size of ours.”
Rossy said Miniso’s merchandise is focused on “design-oriented non essentials” which is a different customer base than Dollarama. The Canadian retailer caters to many shoppers with a broad offering of food, kitchenware, party decorations, toys and seasonal goods.
“We will consider them as competition as we consider all the other retailers in Canada as competition. But there’s nothing for us to react to at this time.”
The Quebec-based discount retailer (TSX:DOL) said it earned $130.1 million of $1.15 per diluted share in its third quarter, up from $110.1 million or 92 cents per share a year ago when it had more shares outstanding.
Dollarama said it has no immediate plans to expand its price points beyond $4.
“We had 17-plus years to master $1, and it’s going to take us a bunch of years to master $3.50 and $4,” Rossy added.
The retailer also said it will likely wait for other retailers to hike prices in response to minimum wage increases before it follows suit.
Rossy said, “If they do, it gives us an option. And if they don’t, obviously, we must, like all the other retailers, find a way to fight a good fight and figure it out.”Dollarama had 1,135 stores at the end of the quarter, up from 1,069 stores a year ago.
