SHOPPERS are boycotting Walmart and Target for rivals Dollar General and Dollar Tree as retail prices surge.
Donald Trump‘s tariff policy seems to be driving consumers to dollar stores for cheaper prices, with promising figures pointing to a turn in the retail tide.
Since the President’s tariff policy was first announced, major US retailers have been thrown into confusion and uncertainty.
The US Sun has reported on dramatic price rises to take place at both Walmart and Target, and shoppers are already showing how worried they are.
In May, Target shoppers highlighted the sudden price increase of a USB-C cord from the store’s in-house Heyday brand, per The US Sun.
The product had increased from $8.99 to $17.99, an 80% markup.
The shift was directly blamed on tariffs, with one shopper writing on Reddit: “I’m kinda scared to do back to school shopping in July and August.”
And at Walmart, the price surge of a toy from $20 to $55 from April 19 to May 21 caused similar reactions, as reported by The US Sun.
One person wrote on social media: “This is actually pretty terrifying. I don’t care about toys of course but jfc I can’t imagine what the price of food and necessities are going to be like soon, especially with most of us only making $14 and already struggling like hell.”
And another noted: “What scares me is that Walmart is truly paying more for the products- I am watching our costs rise and products going up to cover us while its kicking everyone’s a**…consumers & companies.
“This will kill all businesses, big and small.”
DOLLAR PRICES
Now, customers are heading to Dollar General and Dollar Tree for the $1.25 items.
Both retailers have revealed a rise in traffic from middle and higher income households in the first quarter of 2025, per the FT.
Dollar Tree saw 2.6 million new customers visiting in the first few months of the year.
The majority of these new customers were from higher income brackets.
Chief executive Mike Creedon said: “We saw a meaningful traffic increase from customers with household incomes of more than $100,000.”
Dollar Tree pricing
Despite the name of the store, Dollar Tree recently added items that cost more than $1 to its inventory.
Most items at the store cost no more than $1.25, but items in the Dollar Tree Plus section cost up to $5.
Dollar Tree introduced Plus aisles to 100 locations in 2019 as part of an effort to diversify its products.
By 2022, Dollar Tree had added the items to over 1,500 locations.
“We believe testing additional price points above $1 for Dollar Tree products will enable us over time to expand our assortments, introduce new products and meet more of our customers’ everyday needs,” president and CEO Michael Witynski said in a statement.
“Our brand promise is that customers get great value for what they spend at Dollar Tree. We will continue to be fiercely protective of that promise, regardless of the price point.”
Todd Vasos, Dollar General chief executive, added: “During our recent customer survey work, 25 per cent of Dollar General customers reported having less income than they did a year ago and nearly 60 per cent of our core customers noted that they felt the need to sacrifice some necessities in the coming year.
“While our core customer remains financially constrained, we have seen increased trade-in activity from both middle- and higher-income customers.”
This points to a worrying trend for retailers like Walmart and Target.
Walmart has admitted that tariffs are forcing them to raise prices.
However, the retailer has reaffirmed that sales have grown across all its income cohorts in the US for the first quarter.
In terms of Target, it has reported a drop in same-store sales, citing in part to waning customer sentiment and tariff concern.
Interestingly, Target‘s customers do have higher average incomes than Walmart or the dollar stores.
Meanwhile, Dollar Tree consumers are 9% more likely to have low incomes than all US consumers.
Dollar General’s shoppers are 14% more likely to have low incomes.
