Family Dollar will open its doors on Thursday in Northwest Columbus, ending a long vacancy for the property at 2136 Bethel Road.

The discount retail chain, based in Charlotte, N.C., has taken over the former Clintonville Electric site at the northwest corner of Bethel and Dierker roads. It has been vacant since 2008.

At 8,800 square feet, it is one of the larger Family Dollars in the chain, which has more than 7,000 stores nationwide, corporate spokesman Joshua Braverman said.

“I think you can certainly look at the overall economic environment and see that people are craving value and getting the most for their money,” he said.

Family Dollar sells everything from pop to salad dressing to personal-care items, all priced to meet the needs of the budget-minded shopper.

“We really carry a little bit of everything,” he said.

Family Dollar required a rezoning to move into the property. As part of that request, the retailer signed a good-neighbor agreement with the homeowners’ association representing the Lakes at Bethel Park, the adjacent condominium complex. The covenant addresses such things as hours of trash removal, deliveries, store hours and landscaping.

Jeanne Ashby, a member of the Northwest Civic Association, said the contract came about because of long-standing issues with property maintenance and early-morning trash pickup and merchandise delivery.

Although good-neighbor agreements are typically difficult to enforce, Family Dollar fully intends to live up to the accord, Braverman said.

“We pride on ourselves on being a neighborhood store,” he said. “And to be able to serve our customers in their neighborhood, we need to be responsive to their specific requests.”