Mr. Levine, working Family Dollar along relations and later his son, competed with department stores and big-box shops in construction a Fortune 500 corporate that landed his circle of relatives on Forbes mag’s list of the richest Americans, with a web price of $1.4 billion in 2015.
When Mr. Levine retired as chairman in 2002, Jim (*85*), then the executive monetary officer of Bank of America and a Family Dollar board member, known as him “a giant in the retail industry” with a “track record equaled by few companies.”
Mr. Levine’s method to retail used to be contrarian.
As department stores and big-box discounters akin to Walmart and Kmart started shooting up in America’s suburbs all over the Sixties, Mr. Levine all for lower-income neighborhoods in towns and rural spaces, promoting circle of relatives staples akin to batteries, socks, lingerie, toiletries and make-up at steep reductions.
Family Dollar shops have been small — by no means greater than 8,000 sq. toes — so customers may just zip out and in.
“There’s a convenience factor,” George R. Mahoney Jr., the corporate’s senior vice chairman, advised Business North Carolina mag in 1987. “You can see the entire store when you walk in, and there are no long lines at the checkout counter.”
Customers additionally didn’t want to force a 30 minutes to shop for Kleenex. Retail marketplace analysts likened Mr. Levine’s way to 7-Eleven.
“Family Dollar is to Walmart what the local 7-Eleven is to the supermarket,” retail analyst Linda Morris advised the Associated Press in 1993.
Mr. Levine stayed intensely all for lower-income neighborhoods. To establish communities for enlargement, he visited grocery retailer parking loads, the place he would seek for splotches of oil — a sign that citizens within the space drove outdated automobiles and didn’t have some huge cash for maintenance. The extra oil, the easier.
He used to be similarly cunning in protecting prices down. Stores have been minimally staffed, moderately embellished and he used to be a brutal negotiator with providers. On visits to their showrooms, Mr. Levine would wait till no one used to be inside of. Then he would stroll in and say to the gross sales consultant, “I see business is slow, what can I help you with?”
By 1984, Family Dollar had 850 shops in 17 states. Sales have been $341 million a 12 months. Expansion quickened. In 1989, the chain grew to greater than 1,500 shops. By the mid-2000s, Family Dollar had greater than 5,000 places and gross sales crowned $5 billion.
Eventually, Walmart’s brutal low pricing brought about pressure on Family Dollar’s trade, because it struggled to check the big-box store’s costs and international provide chain.
There used to be additionally inner corporate strife, with a number of of Mr. Levine’s members of the family, together with his son, leaving the corporate after boardroom battles over technique.
Competitors additionally emerged, together with Dollar General, which purchased Family Dollar in 2015 for $8.5 billion.
Leon Levine used to be born on June 8, 1937, in Wadesboro, N.C., and grew up in Rockingham, a the city about 70 miles southeast of Charlotte. His folks owned a small division retailer known as the Hub.
When he used to be 12, his father died of a middle assault, leaving him and his brother Sherman to lend a hand their mom run the shop. Leon took his new duties significantly. At age 15, he had trade playing cards published on which he recognized himself as vice chairman.
His mom taught him about customer support and stock.
“I learned a lot about business and people in that store,” he later mentioned. “You quickly learned the customer is the most important person.”
While attending Wingate College (now a school), Mr. Levine and his brother began an organization that made bedspreads. Another brother, Alvin, had moved to Charlotte to open a cut price retailer known as Pic ’N Pay. In 1959, Mr. Levine and his brother bought the bedspread corporate and went to paintings at Pic ’N Pay.
Mr. Levine knew he used to be by no means going again to school. He additionally knew he sought after a trade for himself. Having heard a couple of store in Tennessee promoting every little thing for lower than $1, Mr. Levine made up our minds to relatively innovate on that idea. With $3,000 — all of the cash he had within the financial institution — Mr. Levine opened the primary Family Dollar in downtown Charlotte, promoting every little thing for lower than $2.
(The everything-for-less flooring in the end rose, with inflation and festival, to $17.99.)
Mr. Levine married Barbara Leven in 1958. She died in 1966 from breast most cancers. A 2d marriage led to divorce.
Survivors come with his 3rd spouse, the previous Sandra Poliakoff, whom he married in 1978; two kids from his first marriage, Howard Levine and Lori Sklut, either one of Charlotte; a daughter from his 3rd marriage, Amy Dawson of Charlotte; 11 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
After he retired, Mr. Levine spent the remainder of his lifestyles giving away his vast wealth, offering masses of thousands and thousands of bucks for scholarships, hospitals, museums and Jewish organizations.
Mr. Levine and his spouse hardly ever gave interviews, however in 2004 they agreed to talk with a Charlotte Observer reporter.
There weren’t any primary revelations about his lifestyles, regardless that the reporter famous that Mr. Levine occasionally puzzled how a success he would were had he graduated from faculty.
Also, he preferred just right offers on groceries, which he purchased at Costco.