KC retailer ignores trash, security issues at city stores — but cleans up in the suburbs

On a recent visit to a Family Dollar discount store near Meyer Boulevard and Troost Avenue in Kansas City, discarded plastic bags, cups and fast food containers were strewn about the parking lot. While there was a dumpster on site, the pavement near a trash bin was covered with garbage.

Inside the store, employees routinely violate customers’ privacy, requiring them to turn over large purses and backpacks upon entry.

Family Dollar appears to set different standards for its stores, depending on the location and clientele. In the heart of Kansas City, where most of the stores’ customers are Black, shoppers must contend with squalid conditions and practices that appear discriminatory. At suburban locations in the Kansas City area, the stores and parking lots are well-maintained, and customers can be trusted to carry their own purses and bags.

Chavonna Adams, a former Family Dollar employee, said, “It’s predominantly African American women and men” who shop at the store near Meyer and Troost.

Management lacked a sense of urgency to keep the location clean, she said. When called out, store officials refused to answer questions or correct the problem — an unacceptable response from a company worth billions of dollars.

“We deserve better,” Adams said.

Apparently, Family Dollar believes it’s customers outside of the urban core who deserve better.

Suburban Family Dollar stores in Independence, Lee’s Summit and Gladstone bear no resemblance to some substandard locations in Kansas City. Customers in the suburbs aren’t asked to hand over personal items. Stores are pristine. And parking lots are free of trash and debris.

Meanwhile, the premises at other city locations are littered with excessive trash and debris. Last month, a store near 54th Street and Prospect Avenue was temporarily shut down by the Kansas City Health Department. Years ago, the store was demolished and rebuilt after rats overran the building.

“This is a health issue,” said Charles Johnson, a community organizer and executive director of I Am My Brother’s Keeper.

As evidenced by Family Dollar’s suburban locations, the company is clearly capable of maintaining stores and treating customers with respect. Why set different standards based on geography and clientele?

Representatives for Family Dollar’s parent company Dollar Tree provided no answers to The Star Editorial Board’s questions about discriminatory business practices, rubbish and store safety. One district manager referred questions to a corporate spokesperson.

The company hasn’t responded.

These same issues have surfaced in other cities. Last year, two Black women in Des Moines, Iowa, accused a Family Dollar employee of racial profiling and false imprisonment after looking through one of their purses.

Health department shuts one urban store down

Several Family Dollar employees told The Star Editorial Board that they were overworked, underpaid and fearful about their safety. They stock, tend to customers’ needs and act as security for minimal pay. The job is hazardous. Conditions at some locations are deplorable.

Johnson and others have worked with multiple stores to help clean up trash. The Family Dollar near 54th and Prospect initially resisted those efforts. In June, the store was shut down for three days by the Kansas City Health Department for health code violations.

An on-site inspection found debris piled up in the parking lot. Dumpsters were filled to capacity. There was no regular schedule for trash pickup. And no preventive measures were in place to prevent illegal dumping.

Citing a history of non-compliance, health department officials ordered the location to close.

“The store had no intentions of having the trash picked up,” health department officials wrote in a letter to Fifth District At-Large Councilman Lee Barnes and Fifth District Councilwoman Ryana Parks-Shaw. “The store manager and their corporate office pushed back and were not willing to comply.”

The store has since reopened and has met health department requirements, Parks-Shaw said. Management installed gates around the trash bins to prevent illegal dumping, a simple step that should be taken at every location.

Family Dollar has a responsibility to clean and maintain all of its properties. The company must enact measures that keep both employees and customers safe. And management should hire trained security guards. Customers shouldn’t be forced to hand over purses and backpacks, and store clerks shouldn’t be tasked with security.

All customers should be treated with respect — regardless of where they reside. Too often, Family Dollar has fallen far short of that basic standard at some Kansas City stores.

This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM.