Dollar Tree hosts grand opening in Robertsdale Friday

Cricket Wireless to lease space in Media Plaza, set to open early 2017

By John Underwood / john@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 1/11/17

ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — Friday the 13th might be scary for some, but it was a great day in Robertsdale when the new Dollar Tree store held its grand opening on Friday, Jan. 13.

“It will be a …

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Dollar Tree hosts grand opening in Robertsdale Friday

Cricket Wireless to lease space in Media Plaza, set to open early 2017

Posted

ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — Friday the 13th might be scary for some, but it was a great day in Robertsdale when the new Dollar Tree store held its grand opening on Friday, Jan. 13.

“It will be a great day for us,” said Eric Gibbs, district manager for the national store chain, which is based in Chesapeake, Virginia. “This will be the first store opening this year and we’re looking forward to serving the community with a variety of items for a dollar or less.”

It was a carnival-like atmosphere on Friday, kicked off by a ribbon cutting and events scheduled throughout the day.

The ribbon cutting was followed by presentation of colors by cadets from the Robertsdale High School Naval Junior ROTC with the playing of the National Anthem by the eighth grade Central Baldwin Middle School Golden Bear Marching Band.

Volunteers from the Robertsdale Fire Department were also on hand with a fire truck to hand out prizes. Door prizes and specials will continue throughout the weekend.

Opened as Only $1.00 with just five stores in 1986, the Virginia-based company first adopted the Dollar Tree name in 1993 before going public on the NASDAQ exchange in 1995.

Dollar Tree opened its 5,000th store in 2014 and, following the acquisition of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based Family Dollar in 2015, the Fortune 500 Company now operates more than 13,600 stores across 48 states and five Canadian provinces.

This will be the seventh location to open in Baldwin County. Dollar Tree also operates stores in Bay Minette, Foley, Fairhope, Daphne and Gulf Shores. Family Dollar operates stores in Loxley, Foley, Magnolia Springs, Lillian and Gulf Shores. The district also includes several stores in Mobile with locations as far north as Jackson, Alabama, and as far east as Atmore, Gibbs said.

Construction of the 9,500 square-foot facility, built on the former Gulf Coast Media site, was completed in early December and plans to open by the end of the year were stalled after delays in getting the sign up on the building, said Birmingham developer Le Rogers, who is also leasing a 1,500-square-foot space on the north end of the facility known as Media Retail Plaza.

Rogers said Thursday that the space is being leased by the Texas-based company, Mobilelink and will house Cricket Wireless. The store should be open for business by March of 2017.

“They have 300 stores throughout the United States and this will be their first store in Alabama,” Rogers said. There is a Cricket Wireless store located in Foley, but that store is leased by a different company, Rogers said.

Dollar Tree will initially employ about 25 workers, said Gibbs, including store manager Thresa Cummings; a full-time assistant manager, Tina Brown, and two other assistant managers.

“All of our stores are currently hiring part-time employees,” Gibbs said. You can fill out an application at any store location or visit dollartree.com for more information.

In a July interview, Robertsdale Mayor Charles Murphy said the new Dollar Tree store is part of $15 million in commercial development to come to the area in the last four years.

“Anytime you can get commercial development into the area it can only help the residents of our community,” he said. “It just shows that the corporate world sees Robertsdale and the surrounding area as a viable asset for them.”

All Baldwin County offices of Gulf Coast Media were moved to a centralized location at 901 N. McKenzie St. in Foley in June of 2015. GCM currently operates four weekly newspapers, The Onlooker, serving north, central and south Baldwin County, The Islander, serving Pleasure Island, and The Courier, serving the Eastern Shore, published every Wednesday; along with the county-wide Friday publication, The Baldwin Times.