A Dollar Tree store in Brainerd reopened Monday after being shut down for five days due to rodents getting into some of the store's food last month.
The Dollar Tree near the Brainerd Walmart superstore at 480 Greenway View Drive reopened around noon Monday after work crews cleaned up the store following a state inspection last week that determined the store was unsafe.
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture closed the convenience and grocery store on Wednesday after regulators, acting on a complaint, found dead rodents in the store and evidence that they had apparently eaten some of the food.
"A Tennessee Department of Agriculture inspector responded to the store and found violations, including improper storage, rodent droppings on the floor, rodent gnawing on products, dead rodents in the stock room, rodent urine on boxes and dead rodents in traps," said Will Freeman, a public information officer for the Tennessee Department of Agriculture in Nashville. "Due to these findings, the department determined this store had unsafe operating conditions for a food establishment and required closure until the violations are corrected."
The Dollar Tree is located in a 44,797-square-foot retail strip center built in 2004 next to the Walmart superstore. The strip center backed up to the the South Chickamauga Creek and Brainerd levy near Interstate 75.
The store posted a notice about the temporary shutdown on its front door last week, promising the store "will be reopening very soon."
"We are sorry about the inconvenience," the store posting said.
Store officials declined to discuss the violations at the store, but state inspectors cleared the retailer to reopen the Dollar Tree on Monday and the retailer resumed normal operations.
Dollar Tree Inc., which is based in Chesapeake, Va., operates 13,600 stores in 48 states, including 13 outlets in metropolitan Chattanooga.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.