Family Dollar on Broadway in Saranac Lake, seen here before its opening this morning, will close its doors soon, although its parent company is trying to sell more than 320 Family Dollar stores it owns to Dollar General. (Enterprise photo — Chris Knight)

SARANAC LAKE — The Family Dollar store on upper Broadway is closing its doors, but its parent company is trying to sell the chain to another discount retailer.

On Thursday, village Mayor Clyde Rabideau posted on Facebook a March 30 letter he received from Dollar Express, which acquired the village’s Family Dollar store in 2015. It says the company “has made the difficult decision to close all of its stores on approximately June 30.”

“That’s a shame,” posted Lynn Zuliani of Saranac Lake on the mayor’s page. “I buy so many of my staples there.”

Family Dollar sells a range of products including groceries, household items, clothing and beauty products.

Four people will lose their jobs due to the closure, according to the letter to Rabideau. It also means the plaza where the store is located will now be completely vacant except for High Peaks Wine and Spirits, which is located in an attached building. The plaza is owned by Realco LLC of Florida, according to Franklin County tax records.

“We’ll be sad to see Family Dollar leave their north-end home as it was well-used and convenient for many years,” Rabideau wrote, “but according to this letter, the parent company is liquidating all of its stores. Perhaps this space will be an opportunity for another great venture.”

The Family Dollar stores in Tupper Lake and Lake Placid are not closing. They were purchased by Dollar Tree as part of a 2015 merger of the two companies.

The Saranac Lake Family Dollar is one of more than 320 that were divested from that deal due to Federal Trade Commission concerns that the merger would hurt customers in some areas and violate antitrust laws. In July 2015, the divested stores were purchased by a Manhattan-based private equity firm called Sycamore Partners. It formed a company called Dollar Express to operate them, although most individual stores have kept the Family Dollar name.

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Dollar General deal?

The letter to Rabideau says Dollar Express is closing all its stores, but its parent company, Sycamore, has reportedly reached an agreement to sell the divested stores to Dollar General, another discount retailer. Terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed. It couldn’t be determined as of press time if there was a chance the Broadway Family Dollar could eventually become a Dollar General site.

Sycamore is seeking FTC approval of the deal with Dollar General and has asked for an expedited review, according to a Wednesday press release from the commission.

“According to Sycamore’s application, expedited review will reduce uncertainty for employees and customers, and help Dollar General to preserve the locations as dollar store outlets,” the release reads.

The commission has set a 15-day public comment period on the application that ends April 20.

Dollar General operates over 13,000 discount retail stores in 44 states, including locations in Tupper Lake, Malone and Plattsburgh.

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Correction:

In an earlier version of this story, the Enterprise reported that the Family Dollar location on Broadway could close by late April, citing a post on Rabideau’s Facebook page by Nora Donnelly. However, Donnelly was speaking as the manager of the Lake Flower Avenue Radio Shack, not Family Dollar. Donnelly confirmed to the Enterprise this morning that Radio Shack will close on April 30. The Enterprise regrets the error.