Dollarama earns lots of loonies in third quarter

Canada’s largest dollar store chain, Dollarama, saw its sales and profits rise in the third quarter as the company invested in point-of-sale technology at its stores.

Montreal-based Dollarama reported that sales for the three months ending Oct. 31 rose 13.7% to $355.7 million versus a year ago. Compared to the second quarter, sales rose 3.5%

Net earnings hit $31.3 million, up from $21 million in the second quarter. In the third quarter last year profits were just $1.1 million.

Revenue growth was driven by the addition of 45 new stores in the past year, as well as an 8% increase in same-store sales.

Dollarama, which retails all its merchandise from $1 to $2, also experienced an increse in gross margins to 36.2% from 34.7% a year ago.

“During the quarter, we successfully deployed our point-of-sale scanners in 639 stores, which will greatly improve the quality and accuracy of the collected data at the checkout,” Larry Rossy, chief executive officer of Dollarama, said in a statement. “This initiative was well received by both customers and employees and will enable future enhancements of our store replenishment system.”