Bargain shoppers in Memphis are bracing for a blow as multiple Family Dollar locations are slated to shut their doors for good. Employees at the stores have pointed to a tidal wave of thefts as the prime reason behind the closures. The Family Dollar on the 3400 block of Summer Avenue and its Raleigh counterpart on Coleman Road have started out-of-business sales, with price cuts up to 50 percent off as they prepare to close by April 13, as WREG reported.

The surge in retail crime has taken its toll, with Memphis Police Department's CyberWatch website recording more than a dozen incidents in the vicinity of the Summer Avenue store alone. "We were always finding empty boxes in the store. Shoplifters would go out the back doors," an employee disclosed in a statement obtained by WREG. The relentless shoplifting has left the local community dismayed but not shocked at the business's downfalls. Yvette Evans, a patron searching for discounts, told WREG she wasn't surprised to hear the store's closure news, citing retail crime as a persistent issue.

This development in Memphis may be a harbinger of larger retail trends. The announcement of Family Dollar closures dovetails with the 99 Cents Only Stores' decision to shutter all 371 of their locations, according to USA TODAY. The closures come amid nearly 600 scheduled Family Dollar store closures this year and another 400 Family Dollar and Dollar Tree stores expected to close in the near future as their leases expire.

The fall of these discount retail chains has sparked discussions among experts and advocacy groups. "It's a rough couple of weeks for dollar stores," Kennedy Smith, a senior researcher at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, told USA TODAY. Although critics have been vocal about their concerns, experts assert that the wave of closures does not signify an end for dollar stores in the retail landscape. Residents near the affected Memphis stores, meanwhile, lament the loss of convenience and low-priced options, with one local expressing to Action News 5 a sense of impending loss for having a “cheap store close to home.”