Item 2. Properties

As of January 29, 2022, we operated 15,840 stores across the contiguous United States and the District of Columbia and operated 237 stores within five Canadian provinces.

The Dollar Tree segment includes 8,061 stores operating under the Dollar Tree and Dollar Tree Canada brands with stores predominantly ranging from 8,000 - 10,000 selling square feet. The Family Dollar segment includes 8,016 stores operating under the Family Dollar brand with stores predominantly ranging from 6,000 - 8,000 selling square feet. For additional information on store counts and square footage by segment for the years ended January 29, 2022 and January 30, 2021, see “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” under the caption “Overview.”

We lease the vast majority of our stores and expect to lease the majority of our new stores as we expand. Our leases typically provide for a short initial lease term, generally between five and ten years, with options to extend; in some cases we have initial lease terms of up to fifteen years. We believe this leasing strategy enhances our flexibility to pursue various expansion opportunities resulting from changing market conditions. As current leases expire, we believe that we will be able to obtain lease renewals, if desired, for present store locations, or to obtain leases for equivalent or better locations in the same general area.

Our network of distribution centers is strategically located throughout the United States to support our stores. As of January 29, 2022, we operated 26 distribution centers occupying a total of 24.0 million square feet, 15 of which are primarily dedicated to serving our Dollar Tree stores and 11 distribution centers primarily serve our Family Dollar stores. Our St. George, Utah distribution center services both Family Dollar and Dollar Tree stores and we expect future distribution centers to be built with the capability to service both Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores. Our distribution network supports multiple store formats including H2, Combo Stores and Dollar Tree Plus. We ship to our H2 format stores from our Family Dollar distribution centers and we ship to our Dollar Tree Plus format stores from our Dollar Tree distribution centers. Our Combo Stores receive shipments from both Dollar Tree and Family Dollar distribution centers. We believe our distribution center network is currently capable of supporting approximately $35.3 billion in annual sales in the United States. Except for 0.4 million square feet of our distribution center in San Bernardino, California, all of our distribution center capacity is owned.

Each of our distribution centers contains advanced materials handling technologies, including radio-frequency inventory tracking equipment and specialized information systems. With the exception of four of our facilities, each of our distribution centers in the United States also contains automated conveyor and sorting systems.

Distribution services in Canada are provided by a third party from facilities in British Columbia and Ontario.

Our store support center in Chesapeake, Virginia is located in an approximately 0.5 million square foot office tower that we own in the Summit Pointe development. We are also developing additional parcels on our Summit Pointe property for mixed-use purposes and began leasing some portions during fiscal 2020.

For more information on financing of our new, expanded and renovated stores, distribution centers and the Summit Pointe development activities, see “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” under the caption “Funding Requirements.”