It's June, and inside a quiet room on Family Dollar's Chesapeake campus, the team is already setting up summer toys for next summer.

That's how the Visual Merchandise Room (VMR) works. It's a full scale mock Family Dollar store built inside the corporate office, and long before a product reaches a real shelf, it gets tested here first.

"It gives us the ability to test, validate, and refine merchandising strategies before they're deployed to thousands of stores across the country," says Blake, who has spent 30 years with Family Dollar and relocated to Chesapeake with the company seven years ago. "Every fixture, shelf, peg hook, sign, and product placement can be evaluated here."

What It Is

Downstairs sit two complete model stores. One reflects the H2.5 layout used across roughly 3,500 stores nationwide. The other is the XSB 3.0, a new Extra Small Box prototype built for dense urban markets, set to expand in late 2026. "They're smaller, reducing about 35% of the assortment," Blake explains. Only the top selling items make the cut.

Twenty three people work in the Visual Merchandising department. "The room is constantly evolving because our stores are constantly evolving," Blake says. "One day we may be testing a new checkout presentation, and the next we may be evaluating a seasonal program."

How a Product Gets From Idea to Shelf

"Merchants determine the assortment based on customer demand, trends, sales performance, and strategic priorities," Blake says. From there, the team figures out how items fit the space: shelf placement, product flow, capacity, and signage.

That plan gets physically built in the VMR exactly as it would appear in a store. "It's not good to disrupt customers," says Wayne, who manages the VMR. Better to catch a problem here than in a live one. The team also uses Blue Yonder software and a virtual reality tool to design shelving digitally before anything is built.

More Than Just Making Things Look Nice

Both push back on the same misconception: that visual merchandising is just about making stores look attractive.

"While presentation is important, visual merchandising is about creating an efficient, easy to shop environment that drives sales and improves customer experience," Blake says.

"When it's done well, customers may not even notice it. They simply find what they need quickly."

A Project Worth Bragging About

Ask either of them what they're most proud of, and the answer is the same: the small box store concept.

"It challenged us to rethink how we utilize space in high density urban stores," Blake says, work that took extensive collaboration and countless hours of testing in the VMR. "Seeing those ideas move from concept to execution was incredibly rewarding."

Wayne remembers it from the ground up: "It was an empty slate here, and then we got two semi-trucks full of product." The new stores are built for walkable neighborhoods without room for a big box format or a parking lot.

Thirty Years and One Year, Same Room

Blake's three decades bring institutional memory. Wayne, just over a year in, brings the energy of someone still discovering what the job can be. "It's a fun, hands on job," Wayne says. "You get to see things happening before it happens in the stores, and you get to see what you've done when you walk into the store."

When a customer has a great shopping experience, both agree, a significant portion of that traces back to this room. "Store teams bring those plans to life every day," Blake says, "but the Visual Merchandising team provides the foundation that helps make those experiences possible."

How to Get In

The most common entry point is a Planogram Analyst role, entry level and trainable, ideal for retail store managers or anyone with schematics experience from another retailer or CPG company.

But ask Wayne what he likes most about working here, and it has nothing to do with title. "Everyone works together well," he says, "and everyone supports everyone."

That's the real takeaway from the Visual Merchandise Room: a career built on foresight, hands-on work, and a team that has your back, whether you've been there thirty years or one.

Your next chapter could start here, explore open roles at careers.familydollar.com.