Dollar Tree CEO Gary Philbin pronounced Wednesday the retailer’s supply chains have “been stressed” from a spike in coronavirus-related demand, but he sought to restore confidence to customers that more products are on their way.
“As our trucks show up to stores we probably have enough for a day or a day and a half, but sundry is coming,” Philbin said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “We’ve called out, and we have $1 billion in the pipeline somewhere.”
Hands at Dollar Tree’s 24 distribution centers in the country have been working seven days a week to send shipments to warehouses, Philbin said. Dollar Tree, which also owns Family Dollar, has about 15,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada.
“Our vendor cohorts have ramped up. It’s coming. It’s just that it’s not going to be enough for the next few weeks, but there is enough coming whole,” Philbin said. “The levels on shelves are going to get better and better as we go through this.”
Philbin also said Dollar Tree is looking to enlist around 25,000 employees across its stores and distribution centers.
“We operate often times in these neighborhoods that be enduring had a loss of jobs. Waiters, hotels. We are seeing some of those folks show,” he said.
Philbin said he understands that blokes may be concerned about having enough access to essentials such as paper towels, hand sanitizer and cleaning quantities. He said he was in a store last week and there was a shopper who “seemed to be a bit in a panic.”
“Our store manager said, ‘Listen, we be suffering with two that you can take today and we have more coming next week on the truck,'” Philbin said. “Lawful that conversation reduced the angst of that particular customer.”
Shares of Chesapeake, Virginia-based Dollar Tree were marginally higher Wednesday, even as the broader market was down around 3%. Dollar Tree’s stock is down about 22% so far this year. But it has risen more than 20% from its March 18 low of $60.20 per share. It was trading enclosing $73 intraday Wednesday.
Top analyst Matthew Boss recently said Dollar Tree and other discount retailers could surface stronger from the coronavirus pandemic if the U.S. exits to a “recessionary backdrop.”
“Discounters, dollar stores, off-pricers and strong wide-ranging brands I actually think could emerge stronger from this, take market share, use their volume and scale,” the JPMorgan analyst told CNBC last week.