BELLE — The Vienna and Belle Family Dollar, Dollar Tree stores will be among 1,000 closing nationwide due to corporate difficulties. The last day of operation will be mid-April.

When asked how many workers would be affected by the two store locations closing in Maries County, employees of both locations informed The Advocate that they were told not to make any statements or answer any questions concerning the current situation. There has also been no response to questions from management at either location at the time of publication.

Family Dollar, which is owned by Dollar Tree, was fined more than $40 million this February for a rodent issue at a warehouse that caused hundreds of stores to temporarily close in 2022.

In January of 2022, FDA inspectors found rodents and rodent droppings throughout the building of the company’s West Memphis, Arkansas distribution center. Family Dollar closed the center that month, fumigated, and reported the extermination of 1,270 rodents. They began a recall of all the center’s goods in February of 2022.

The Belle location, which was constructed by American Realty & Development in 2021, was purchased by the company and they began operations in December of 2021.