CHESAPEAKE, Va. – Dollar Tree announced this week that it has completed its acquisition of Family Dollar Stores, creating a discount giant worth $19 billion and operating more than 13,000 stores in 48 states and five Canadian provinces.

“This is a transformational opportunity for our business to offer broader, more compelling merchandise assortments, with greater values, to a wider array of customers,” Dollar Tree CEO Bob Sasser said in a news release. “This acquisition will extend our reach to low-income customers, while strengthening and diversifying our footprint.”

The deal, first announced last summer, was initially valued at $8.5 billion and has since increased to $10 billion as stock prices climbed. As part of the acquisition deal, Dollar Tree agreed to divest 330 Family Dollar stores to private-equity firm Sycamore Partners, which will operate them under its Dollar Express banner.

In his statement, Sasser noted that the newly combined company plans to leverage best practices across both organizations to deliver cost synergies. Gary Philbin, formerly president and COO of Dollar Tree, has been named to the same position at Family Dollar, and will report to Sasser.

NACS Daily previously discussed the acquisition back in May. And way back in October 2012 — our NACS Show issue that year! — we discussed the potential threat dollar stores bring to the industry, a threat that continues.