Two Family Dollar stores in Springfield have sat closed for nearly two months after city health inspectors documented dead and live mice, hundreds of droppings, and gnawed food on the shelves. The stores, at 575 Main St. in the North End and 2594 Main St. in the South End, have not reopened since late September because officials say they still have not seen the improvements needed to lift the closures.
The saga began after the Springfield Health Department received a complaint about the 575 Main St. location on Sept. 14, according to MassLive. Inspectors who responded found hundreds of mouse droppings, dead rodents, gnawed candy bars and other food, along with filth and dirt throughout the store. A district manager decided to close that location for cleaning on his own, the outlet reports.
That wasn't the end of it. When inspectors returned on Sept. 22 for a follow-up, the report notes conditions had not improved — they found more droppings, dead and live mice caught in glue traps, chewed food, and urine stains. The health department ordered the 575 Main St. store closed until another inspection could be completed.
The South End Store Had a Separate Inspection Timeline
At 2594 Main St., the store manager requested an inspection because of a mouse problem, MassLive reported. Inspectors found similar rodent-related concerns, and a follow-up visit on Sept. 23 found comparable problems. The health department ordered the South End store closed as well.
MassLive’s account described additional findings across the inspection visits, including droppings, shredded paper products, gnawed candy bars, dead mice and a leaking pipe. Inspectors also found a cardboard box holding at least five mice caught in glue traps, some still alive; the account does not clearly assign every one of these findings to a particular store or visit. At the South End location, a manager showed inspectors a photo of newborn mice nesting inside a toilet-paper package. Damaged pet food and other food products were also found on shelves.
An exterminator told inspectors that the South End store had long had a rodent problem and that visits had increased to twice a week, according to MassLive. A district manager said a cleaning team would be sent to each location.
Reopening Depends on Further Improvements
Helen Caulton-Harris, Springfield’s commissioner of health and human services, called the conditions an “imminent” threat to public health and said the stores must comply with health code regulations before reopening. She also said employees at both locations had been cooperative and pleasant with inspectors.
Caulton-Harris said the department was working with the company on a remediation plan. As of MassLive’s report, officials had not observed the major improvements needed to allow either store to reopen.
The city department had not received responses to repeated calls and emails to higher-level company management, and a company spokesperson did not respond to MassLive’s email requests for comment. A corporate receptionist told the outlet the company’s email system was down because of a nationwide outage and did not provide a phone number for the spokesperson.
Not an Isolated Problem for the Chain
Springfield's closures echo rodent trouble that has surfaced at Family Dollar and sister chain Dollar General elsewhere. In Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, city health officials suspended the business license of a Family Dollar store after it failed an inspection on June 6, 2025, according to Block Club Chicago. Inspectors there found roughly 200 mouse droppings along with a dead mouse and a live one, and the store failed a second inspection in July before the company said it hoped to reopen that August.
The problem has also reached Family Dollar's supply chain. In 2022, the company voluntarily recalled products shipped to more than 400 stores after an FDA investigation uncovered a rodent infestation at a distribution center in Arkansas, as reported by CNBC. And in March 2026, Pennsylvania's Agriculture Department temporarily shut down a Dollar General in Swatara Township after inspectors reported mouse droppings and urine near snack displays, pet food and a candy section, according to PennLive.
What the Earlier Case and Food-Access Data Show
The Springfield closures are at retail stores; an earlier case involved Family Dollar’s West Memphis, Arkansas, distribution center. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the company recalled certain FDA-regulated products shipped from that facility to 404 stores between Jan. 1, 2021, and March 18, 2022, because of rodent activity. In February 2024, Dollar Tree announced that Family Dollar had agreed to plead guilty to a one-count misdemeanor violation related to adulterated FDA-regulated products held at the facility, according to the FDA and Dollar Tree’s announcement.
The USDA Economic Research Service says its Food Access Research Atlas uses measures that can help identify neighborhoods where distance and transportation barriers may limit access to food retailers. The cited data do not establish what food-shopping alternatives are available near either closed Springfield store, according to the USDA.
For now, Springfield residents on Main Street in both the North End and South End are left without two neighborhood discount stores while the city and the company work toward a fix. Health officials have not said when the next round of inspections will determine whether either location is cleared to reopen.
