Dollarama facts for kids
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| Public | |
| Traded as | TSX: DOL S&P/TSX 60 component |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Founder | Larry Rossy |
| Headquarters | Mount Royal, Quebec |
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Number of locations
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1,551 (2024) |
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Key people
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Neil Rossy, CEO Larry Rossy (Executive Chairman) |
| Products | Cleaning supplies, toys, candy, grocery, gifts, healthcare products, kitchenware, stationery, party supplies, hardware |
| Revenue |  $5.052 billion CAD (2023) |
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Operating income
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$1.523 billion CAD (2023) |
| $1.191 billion CAD (2023) |
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Number of employees
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Around 24,000 (2023) |
Dollarama Inc. is a popular Canadian store where you can buy many different items for low prices. It's like a "dollar store" but also sells things for a bit more. Their main office is in Mount Royal, Quebec. Since 2009, Dollarama has been the largest store in Canada selling items for five dollars or less. They have more than 1,400 stores all across Canada, with the most stores found in Ontario.
Contents
History
How Dollarama Started
The story of Dollarama began a long time ago, in 1910. A person named Salim Rassy, who was an immigrant from Lebanon, opened the first "all-dollar" store in Montreal. His family name later became Rossy.
Salim's son, George Rossy, took over the business in 1937. He led the company until he passed away in 1973. At that time, his grandson, Larry Rossy, became the leader. The company had 20 stores when Larry took charge.
The Birth of Dollarama
By 1992, the family's discount store business had grown to 44 locations. These stores were known as Rossy. That same year, Larry Rossy opened the very first Dollarama store. It was located in a shopping center called "Les Promenades du St-Laurent" in Matane.
The Dollarama stores quickly became very popular. They soon brought in more money for the Rossy family than the older Rossy S stores. After 1997, the Rossy S stores became rare and eventually closed or changed into Dollarama stores. Larry Rossy kept opening new Dollarama locations, reaching 1,000 stores by 2015.
In November 2004, a large part of the company (80 percent) was sold for $850 million US. It was bought by a company called Bain Capital, which helps businesses grow.
Growing Bigger
Dollarama became a public company on October 9, 2009. This means its shares could be bought and sold on the stock market.
In 2013, Dollarama decided to expand its business to Latin America. They made an agreement to share their business knowledge with Dollarcity. Dollarcity is a chain of dollar stores in Central America and Colombia.
In 2016, Dollarama also helped sponsor the first Formula Windsor Championship. This was through a partnership with Marco G. R. Enterprise.
In 2018, Dollarama had to recall over 50,000 children's toys. This was because the toys contained certain chemicals at levels that were not safe.
By October 2021, Dollarama had many stores across Canada. There were 539 in Ontario, 379 in Québec, and 134 in Alberta, among others. The company announced plans to open 700 more stores across Canada. This included their first store in the Yukon Territory.
New Adventures in Australia
On March 26, 2025, Dollarama announced exciting news. They shared that they would be buying an Australian discount store called The Reject Shop. This deal was worth CA$233 million. Dollarama plans to bring its "Dollarama shopping experience" to Australia. This will include new store designs and ways of showing products. It was not known at the time if the Reject Shop name would stay the same.
How Dollarama Works
When Dollarama first started, almost everything in the store cost $1.00 or less. In early 2009, they began to sell items for up to $2.00. This included prices like $1.25 and $1.50. Customers liked having more choices.
Because of this, in August 2012, Dollarama added items priced at $2.50 and $3.00. Then, in August 2016, they increased prices again to include $3.50 and $4.00 items. In 2022, Dollarama announced that the highest price for an item would be $5.00. These higher prices allow the store to offer an even wider variety of products.
Dollarama has always had a "No Return and No Exchange Policy." This means that once you buy an item, you cannot bring it back to the store for a refund or to swap it for something else.
For a long time, you could only pay with cash at Dollarama stores. But in 2008, they started accepting Interac debit cards. In 2011, they began to offer Gift cards. By 2015, all Dollarama stores also allowed "contactless" payments using Interac Flash.
In March 2017, Dollarama announced that they would start accepting credit cards. By the end of summer 2018, customers could pay with Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. This happened after a successful trial period.
Many Dollarama stores opened in places where another store, called BiWay, used to be. BiWay closed down after some financial problems. Dollarama also launched its online store on January 21, 2019. On this website, you can buy many of their products in larger quantities. About 1,000 of the 4,000 products found in stores are sold online. These are usually items that people buy in bulk.
See also
- A Buck or Two
- Dollar Tree
- Great Canadian Dollar Store
- Your Dollar Store with More
