This story was originally reported by WHRO News.
A month after Dollar Tree’s CEO resigned, the company announced Wednesday its chief financial officer would also be stepping down.
Jeff Davis, who joined the company in August 2022, said during a quarterly earnings call Wednesday he will stay on long enough to finalize Dollar Tree’s annual reports. The company has already launched an external search for his replacement.
Davis is the second high-level executive to depart the Chesapeake-based Fortune 500 company in the past month. CEO Rick Dreiling stepped down in early November, citing his health.
Dollar Tree reported a modestly successful third quarter during Wednesday’s quarterly earnings call — with sales largely buoyed by bringing hundreds of new stores online.
But the company has struggled over the past two years since Davis and Dreiling took the reins. The company’s stock price fell as it failed to turn its acquisition of Family Dollar into adequate profits, as well as the economic realities for consumers cutting into the retail business.
The company still hasn’t said what it plans to do with Family Dollar, the rival it acquired in 2015. Dollar Tree announced in June it was exploring selling Family Dollar after shuttering hundreds of its stores in March.
The value retailer saw growth in the purchase of consumable items like food in the third quarter as consumers shift to preparing food at home, said interim CEO Mike Creedon. Meanwhile, families are reducing discretionary spending at its stores.
“We continue to see evidence of belt tightening, especially among lower income customers,” Creedon told investors.
In August, the company cut its annual revenue expectations. Representatives have said that high inflation and lower government benefits, like SNAP, have contributed to lower sales. The company’s also taken on one-time costs to update stores to a new multiprice model, as well as converting 170 stores it acquired from the 99 Cents Only chain in May.
Dollar Tree has also said it’s paying out more for claims overincidents at its stores, including customer accidents.
On Wednesday’s call, Creedon also sought to allay investor concerns over potential import tariffs that have been threatened by President-elect Donald Trump.
“Back in 2018 and 2019, when we last dealt with this issue, we were able to mitigate the majority of the potential impact by negotiating lower costs with our suppliers, changing product specs or pack sizes or dropping noneconomical items,” Creedon said.
