Dollar Tree headquarters in Chesapeake to grow by 700 people

CHESAPEAKE — Dollar Tree plans to move about 700 workers from Family Dollar’s Matthews, N.C., headquarters to Chesapeake by fall of next year, a move that could eventually make the company one of the largest office employers in Hampton Roads.

The company, which bought Family Dollar three years ago, announced Tuesday that it would consolidate its store support centers in the Chesapeake tower now under construction. As part of the effort, several hundred employees have been asked to relocate.

The influx would give Dollar Tree the third-most office employees outside of the manufacturing, health care and schools sectors, according to data kept by the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance.

The news isn’t entirely unexpected. Dollar Tree bought Matthews-based Family Dollar in 2015 for more than $9 billion, more than doubling the number of stores it owns to more than 14,000 nationwide. A year later, Dollar Tree announced it would spend $110 million to expand its Chesapeake headquarters, including building a 12-story glass office tower.

To keep the company from moving to North Carolina, the state gave it $9 million worth of incentives and Chesapeake offered an additional $4.5 million.

Dollar Tree spokesman Randy Guiler said the company’s Chesapeake campus will eventually employ about 1,900 people when its fully operational. That’ll put the Fortune 500 company near Stihl, which employs about 1,800 people in Virginia Beach and Smithfield Foods and Ferguson Enterprises, which each employ about 2,000 people in the region.

Just counting office jobs, it would only be outdone by Amerigroup and GEICO, according to the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance.

“It’s extraordinarily good news,” said Rick Weddle, executive director of the alliance. His group, which has historically focused on recruitment, didn’t play a role in keeping Dollar Tree in the area. He called the shift in jobs an “impactful and important” decision in any market, big or small.

Weddle said those moving from Matthews should expect to have just about any option for living, be it urban, suburban or rural.

“It’s one of those ‘you-can’t-gowrong’ markets,” he said.

The company’s Matthews campus is expected to close by fall of 2019.

About 900 people work in Matthews now. Guiler said fewer than 200 jobs in Matthews would be cut next year. He said the company would offer open positions in Chesapeake to those affected.

An existing distribution center in Matthews will remain open and unaffected, he said.