Work trucks are parked outside the 16,000 square-foot anchor space at the neighborhood center at Palm and Bullard avenues in Northwest Fresno. A Dollar Tree will open there in spring 2025. Photo by Ben Hensley

With the value of a dollar fluctuating in this economy, one Northwest Fresno shopping center can guarantee low prices next spring with the arrival of the area’s 24th Dollar Tree.

Jim Burden, who already owns a pair of Fresno shopping centers anchored by Dollar Tree, said a 10-year lease was recently signed for his neighborhood center at Palm and Bullard avenues by the Virginia-based discount retailers with more than 15,500 locations across the country.

The store will fill the space formerly occupied by Kiki’s Quilt Shop, which closed its Fresno location earlier this year. Burden said the Dollar Tree connection started with his shopping center on the corner of Clovis Avenue and Cesar Chavez Boulevard — formerly Kings Canyon road. Then came a second Dollar Tree at Bullard and Marks avenues.

When the nearly 16,000 square-foot building at Bullard and Palm became available, Burden again reached out to his contacts to secure his third store.

“We eventually, after months and months of negotiating, finally signed a lease for that space in September,” Burden said.

The nearly 16,000 square-foot building will undergo preparations in the coming months, with the interior walls set to be removed and floors and fixtures prepared for Dollar Tree to begin construction in early December.
Once the interior of the building is prepared for the new store, Dollar Tree must install their refrigerated units, display shelves and other equipment at the store — a process that could take several months.

The shopping center at Bullard and Palm also currently has two other unoccupied spaces seeking tenants. Each space is approximately 1,000 square feet, according to Burden.

Burden said the shopping center is usually full due to its prime location — typically 95% occupied. Before Kiki’s Quilt Shack opened in 2020, the space was previously a Walgreens.

A new Starbucks opened its doors earlier this year, occupying the space formerly held by Foster’s Freeze which closed last year.

“It’s such a good center because it’s surrounded by residential, and you have to go all the way to Herndon to get more commercial,” Burden said. “The tenants draw from an area that doesn’t have any competition until you get to Blackstone or Shaw.”

The Dollar Tree store will be the 24th store in Fresno and Clovis, and 776th statewide. Nationwide, the retailer has just over 15,500 locations across the U.S., which includes Family Dollar brand stores.