As a result, "we had solid performance each month," Sasser said. "With rising gas prices, consumers can't afford to waste a trip," he reasoned, "and we're a 'right for the times' shopping location."

Freezer and refrigeration sections were added to about 100 stores, bringing the total to 360. The company plans to have them in more than 500 of its 3,156 units by the end of this year. The chain is moving to a larger footprint of between 11,000 sf and 12,000 sf. It added 242 new units this year, including Deal$.

The company is lifting the restriction of a $1 pricepoint at some former Deal$ units and is in the process of painting, training, cleaning up and fixing up at all of them. So far, "response has been good," Sasser said, adding, "we'll tell you more about the multi-pricepoint effort in our next call."

The chain expects to add another 250 stores in 2007. "We're building a supply chain to deliver ahead of the need," Sasser said. "It will be a planned roll-out versus 'lets just put one everywhere'."

The roll-out of debit card acceptance has now reached to virtually all of the company's stores, and food stamp acceptance is following. By year-end, about 500 units will accept food stamps. "Debit card transactions have a higher average ticket value," Sasser said, "and food stamps also have a decent average transaction value." He declined to disclose Dollar Tree's average ticket sale.

Total sales for second quarter were $883.6 million, up 14.9% from $769 million in the same quarter a year ago. Estimated sales for third quarter are in the range of from $895 million to $915 million, and full-year sales are forecasted to reach between about $3.9 billion and nearly $4 billion.