Dollarama Q2 profits up as value focus drives sales

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Dollarama says its business was “strong, growing and profitable” during a second quarter in which it reported a 12.4% year-over-year net earnings increase.

The performance, according to Dollarama CEO Neil Rossy, reflects the underlying strength of the company’s business model, the relevance of its value proposition and its staff’s “impeccable execution.”

The retailer said the $321.5 million net-sales boost and a 5% comparable-store sales increase were primarily driven by strong demand for consumables, as general merchandise and seasonal sales remained stable.

Despite the strong performance reported Wednesday, Dollarama did point out that the Canadian consumer “remains fragile and cautious on discretionary spending in a context of continued economic uncertainty.”

Rossy said the company expects tariff discussions to be relatively short-lived, adding that adjusting its model to move sourcing of goods away from U.S. suppliers is a three- to six-month project.

“And so while we’ve done our work on the few items that would be alternatives from the goods we buy from the U.S., it hasn’t been a huge push because the majority of the goods that we buy from the U.S. are national brands, and those national brands can’t be replaced with private-label imports,” Rossy says. “It’s just not the nature of those products. So when you’re talking about Pepsi and FritoLay and Nestlé and Hershey, it is what it is.”

On the real estate front, Dollarama opened 27 net new stores in the second quarter bringing the total number of net new stores year-to-date up to 49. The company reported a 1,665-location footprint in Canada through the quarter.