New Store Will Replace Family Dollar on 27th Street
Growing national chain will replace store subject to legal battle.
Family Dollar at 930 N. 27th St.. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Family Dollar spent more than two years fighting the city in court to keep its Near West Side store open, then it walked away.
But the building at 930 N. 27th St. won’t be vacant much longer. National clothing retailer Citi Trends is proposing to open a store in the building, having filed a number of permits with the city.
It would be the company’s sixth store in the Milwaukee area.
An affiliate of Realty Income, a California-based real estate investment trust that invests in single-tenant properties, owns the property. Family Dollar sold the property to the trust in 2015.
Family Dollar operated the 14,484-square-foot store from 2004 to 2024. Based on city licenses, it continues to operate 12 stores in Milwaukee and several more in the surrounding suburbs. Corporate sibling Dollar Tree operates 11 stores in the city.
Citi Trends has four stores in the city proper: 4061 N. 54th St., 6406 N. 76th St., 709 E. Capitol Dr. and 3441 S. 27th St. It also has a store on W. Greenfield Avenue in West Allis.
Georgia-based Citi Trends describes itself as an off-price retailer focused primarily on Black families in its corporate filings and says its stores are designed around fashion and styles selected for its core customers. Its merchandise includes women’s, men’s and children’s clothing, footwear, accessories and beauty products, as well as home and lifestyle goods. The company uses a three-tier merchandise strategy ranging from low-priced basics to higher-quality core products and trend-oriented or nationally recognized brands sold at steep discounts.
The company operates 594 stores in 33 states. It reported $820 million in sales during its 2025 fiscal year, an 8.9% increase from the prior year, and reported $5.2 million in net income after losing $43.2 million a year earlier. Its improvement has continued in 2026, with sales totaling $442.5 million during the first half of the year, up 12.7%, and net income of $6.8 million.
At the close of trading on Wednesday, the company had a market cap of $485.4 million.
The former Family Dollar store was listed for lease with Founders 3 in 2024. According to a property flyer, the existing Family Dollar lease extended through the end of 2027.
The building, built in 1959, was originally a Sentry grocery store and was previously home to the Milwaukee Indian Health Board’s 27th Street Community Health Center.
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