DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The yellow "STORE CLOSING" signs stood out for people in Cleveland and in Portage County: Family Dollar is closing stores as the year comes to an end.
News 5 confirmed that Family Dollar either has closed or plans to close the following stores before the end of the year:
- 16122 Lake Shore Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44110 (Collinwood)
- 936 W 25th St, Cleveland, OH 44113 (Ohio City)
- 1342 OH-14, Deerfield, OH 44411
- 6339 E. State Route 113, Bellevue, OH 44811
News 5 reached out to Family Dollar, which confirmed the closures in Deerfield Township and Ohio City, stating that their leases are expiring naturally.
However, the company has not provided a list of any other stores closing at the end of 2025.
The closures come just months after Family Dollar's parent company, Dollar Tree, sold the chain to private equity for $1 billion in July. Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar for more than $8 billion in 2015.
According to Family Dollar's website, the company currently operates about 7,331 stores nationwide, including 385 locations in Ohio.
Last year, News 5 reported on the closure of 35 Family Dollar stores across Ohio.
In Deerfield Township, Brianna Shannon was among the last customers to shop at the Family Dollar before it closed on Dec. 16.
"I was driving past, and I see '90% off one more day,' and I hurried up in," Shannon said. "It's sad to see it leave, but that's how things are going nowadays."
Ed Dean, a Deerfield Township trustee, remembers when the store first opened about 20 years ago.
"We called it Deerfield Mall," he chuckled. "People got a kick out of that. That was a big thing in Deerfield 20 years ago. The whole community is going to miss it."
Dean told News 5 that the township is working to bring a gas station to the village circle where SR 14 and 224 meet, but the loss of the Family Dollar there will be felt.
"Apparently, they're being oversaturated," Dean said about dollar stores. "There's too many of them around. That store is always busy. I don't understand why they're closing. All local people worked there, and there's a lot of jobs lost there too. It's going to make it tough on the community."
Amanda Carrington, who works at Fruitlands Farm Market across from the closed Deerfield Family Dollar, expects some customers may come their way, though her store didn't directly compete with the dollar store.
"Typically, a lot of people already travel to the bigger cities like Alliance or Ravenna to get their stuff - I just think it's going to happen more," Carrington said.
Carrington told News 5 she's worried about adding yet another empty building to the center of Deerfield Township.
"If we knew it was going to turn into something like a restaurant or whatever, it might be like 'Deerfield is changing for the better,'" she explained. "But right now, we're just seeing abandoned buildings in the area and it's kind of sad."
Clay LePard is the Ashtabula, Geauga and Portage counties reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on X @ClayLePard, on Facebook ClayLePardTV or email him at Clay.LePard@wews.com.
