- Family Dollar (NYSE:FDO) CEO Howard Levine had strong words on the economic state of America’s low-income consumers yesterday in the discount retailer's earnings conference call, saying "the low-end consumer has not benefited from this recovery at all - in fact, I think have slipped further back."
- But Levine thinks he can coax more money from customers by selling beer and wine; FDO has been testing alcohol sales for two years and had its best-ever beer sales on this year's July 4 weekend, prompting an accelerated rollout for 2015.
- Meanwhile, Carl Icahn, who wants the company to sell itself to rival Dollar General (NYSE:DG), points to the top in assigning blame for FDO's woes: "The leadership, to say the least, is questionable at Family Dollar and it's been that way for many years."