Rats Take Over Queens Dollar Tree Riddled With Poop, Advocates Say

QUEENS, NY — Swarms of rats left shelves in a Dollar Tree in Queens littered with feces and chewed through bags of food that locals unknowingly brought home, said a local advocate who documented the store-wide infestation in a nauseating set of photos.

Dollar Tree corporate managers temporarily closed the Ozone Park store Monday morning, advocate Sam Esposito told Patch.

Esposito, who is president of Ozone Park Residents Block Association, had raised alarms about the rodent invasion in a Facebook post just barely a day before. He called for a boycott and for officials to shut down the store indefinitely until the infestation could be cleared.

"I saw THE most deplorable of conditions I have ever seen," he wrote.

"Rats have invaded most perishables. The rat infestation is so bad that the shelving is filled with rat droppings. Bags of food have rat holes where rats have been nibbling. People were buying this food, and the assistant manager who was notified did not even care that people were buying the food with holes in the bags."

The post was paired with disgusting photos that Esposito said were taken inside the store that showed rat feces strewn on shelves and holes chewed through

Dollar Tree representatives couldn't be reached for comment.

Esposito told Patch that Dollar Tree's corporate manager apparently saw the post because they closed the store at 8 a.m.

State Sen. Joseph Addabbo, Jr., said his office contacted Department of Agriculture and Markets authorities after being alerted to the "deplorable" conditions inside the store.

"I am pleased to announce that this Dollar Tree location has closed down, pending an investigation by the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets," he said in a statement. "The agency requires a total cleaning and passing of a subsequent inspection."

Esposito said he understands that the store, which is along Cross Bay Boulevard near Van Wicklen Road, will only be temporarily closed as it's one of the company's busiest in the area.

"We're really happy that people responded in the manner they did and things are getting done very quickly now," he said.

The store has been a problem in the past, with locals having difficulty with store staff cleaning the sidewalk and garbage piling up in its parking lot, according to Esposito's original post.

Agriculture department workers inspected the store for about two hours Monday, Esposito said.

"We don’t know what the department of agriculture will do," he said.

Representatives for the department didn't immediately return Patch's request for comment.