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54    JOSEPH W. LEONARD


                                          To support its retail operations, Family Dollar operates nine automated full-service
                                      distribution centers (each ranging in size from 850,000 square feet to 907,000 square feet)
                                      that ship directly to company stores. The company uses a Web-based transportation man-
                                      agement system, voice-recognition software, radio-frequency technology and high-speed
                                      sorting systems for better distribution process efficiency. Family Dollar has a strong pres-
                                      ence in the southern United States. Seven of its nine distribution centers are located in the
                                      South (northern Virginia, western North Carolina, panhandle of Florida, eastern Kentucky,
                                      eastern Arkansas, southwestern Oklahoma, and western Texas); the other two are in
                                      upstate New York and eastern Iowa. The company operates few stores in the Rocky
                                      Mountain region and only the Nevada stores in the Pacific time zone. Exhibit 5 shows the
                                      store locations.


                                         EXHIBIT 5   Family Dollar, by State and Number of Stores

                                                      Number of Stores per 100,000 population
                                         # of Stores                        # of Stores per 100,000 Population

                                         NORTHEAST
                                         Maine 46                                        3.49
                                         New Hampshire 22                                1.67
                                         Vermont 12                                      1.93
                                         Massachusetts 99                                1.53
                                         Rhode Island 20                                 1.90
                                         Connecticut 51                                  1.46
                                         New York 290                                    1.49
                                         Pennsylvania 264                                2.11
                                         New Jersey 80                                   0.92
                                         Delaware 21                                     2.41
                                         Maryland 92                                     1.64
                                         District of Columbia 3                          0.50
                                         SOUTH
                                         Virginia 214                                    2.75
                                         West Virginia 115                               6.34
                                         North Carolina 364                              3.95
                                         South Carolina 198                              4.42
                                         Georgia 303                                     3.07
                                         Florida 363                                     1.98
                                         Kentucky 186                                    4.36
                                         Tennessee 204                                   3.28
                                         Alabama 145                                     3.13
                                         Mississippi 118                                 4.02
                                         Arkansas 98                                     3.43
                                         Louisiana 229                                   5.19

                                         MIDWEST
                                         Ohio 411                                        3.58
                                         Indiana 195                                     3.04
                                         Michigan 348                                    3.48
                                         Wisconsin 140                                   2.49
                                         Illinois 238                                    1.84

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