Dollarama execs on tariffs, $5 price cap and consumables demand in Q2
Dollarama Inc. reported net earnings of $349.3 million in its second quarter, up from $321.5 million last year.
Comparable store sales in Canada increased by 5.4% compared to 4.9% in the second quarter of fiscal 2026. Total sales increased 17.6% to $2.03 billion, up from $1.72 billion.
Dollarama opened 15 net-new stores across Canada in the quarter—compared to 27 during the same period last year—bringing year-to-date net new openings to 43.
The company increased its fiscal 2027 guidance to between 65 and 75 net-new stores, up from the previous range of 60 to 70.
Read on for what Neil Rossy, president and CEO, and Patrick Bui, chief financial officer, had to say about the results on Dollarama's second quarter earnings call.
Neil Rossy on Canadian consumers and counter-tariffs
“In Canada, despite a cautious consumer and continued pressure on household budgets, customers turned to Dollarama for their everyday needs during the second quarter. Same store sales (SSS) were strong, supported by an increase in customer traffic and basket growth, bringing our SSS year-to-date above our expectations for the first half of the year. Demand for consumables and general merchandise was sustained, while demand for seasonal products remained stable year over year.
“Economic conditions remain challenging… For our business, the direct tariff impact comes from Canadian counter-tariffs on a portion of the goods we purchased from the U.S. As discussed during the last round of counter-tariffs over a year ago, we have the agility to navigate these measures, and their financial impact remains manageable. Geopolitical conflict also continues to create cost pressures across global supply chains. The adaptability of our business model has enabled us to mitigate these in Q2, and we are actively working to manage potential impacts through the second half of the year.”
Rossy on inflation and Dollarama’s $5 price point
“During difficult times, the consumer has less money to spend. It's that simple. By the same token, during difficult times, the consumer trades down, and that can benefit all around. It's very hard to tell how much trading down there is, how much consumer reduction in non-core spending there is. At the end of the day, the true and only facts we have are our results. I think it's our job to continue to stay focused on being the best relative value that we can be in our category of goods, and to make the shopping experience as pleasant as possible and to have as many convenient locations as we can across each of our markets.
“With respect to the six-dollar price point, as a reminder, our fixed price point strategy is a core element of our business model, and we would only introduce a higher price point if warranted. The key trigger would be cost inflation reaching a level where we can no longer sustainably support the current $5 max price point. However, based on what we're seeing today, we don't believe that an additional price point is necessary. And if the business continues to perform at a high level under our current pricing strategy, we will do what we've always done, which is to push off any additional price points as long as we can.”
Patrick Bui on category trends
“What we've seen this quarter is really nothing more than a continuation of the trends that we've seen in the past few quarters. Consumables has been performing well. We're seeing incremental strength in the general merchandise category. And when it comes to seasonal products, if you look at the past few quarters, it's anywhere between slightly negative, flat, slightly positive year-over-year. This quarter, summer seasonal sales performed in positive territory. That's an indication a little bit more to the discretionary side. But it's the same trend that we've been seeing.”
Bui in on the bump in Canadian traffic
“It’s very difficult to [say why]. At the end of the day, what we track is overall SSS. We're very pleased with the 5.4%. We also track traffic and share it with you. 3.7% is a good result, but it's continued momentum of what we've seen in Q1. In Q1 we had 3.5%, slightly higher in Q2. For us, it's just a reflection of the continued momentum and perhaps the great value that people find in our stores, the pleasant experience that they have, and they return to our stores.”
Rossy on Canadian store openings
“60 to 70 remains the guidance, generally. Last year was an exceptional year, and we raised that guidance and opened 10 more stores. This year again just changed the guidance exceptionally, and the reasons for that are really very much what we've described in the past as the reasons to change the guidance, which are if we get more opportunity than the pace we've had historically, and the team is able to execute those leases within a time frame that happens to fall within one fiscal year as opposed to the next. We're not going to leave stores with the lights off and pay rent. So, we will adapt our guidance based on the realities of our execution by our partners, our landlords. That is the reason for the change in guidance. It's not a commitment to a change in guidance in the future. It will go back to the 60 to 70 unless again we see that there's an exceptional reason to change it.”
