99 Cents Only Customers Say The Mass Closures Will Be A Shock To The Pocketbook

Published Apr 5, 2024 2:25 PM

A mall sign wit 99 cents only stores sign on it.

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News that all 371 locations of the 99 Cents Only stores would liquidate inventory before closing down for good hit loyal customers hard on Friday morning.

“[I found out] just now. My wife, just called her, I told her to tell the kids,” said Derrick Wynne outside of a 99 Cents Only store near the Long Beach airport.

His go-to products are eggs, milk, creamer, bread, laundry items, and over the counter medication.

“I don’t think it’s fair… everybody needs this store," he said. "[There’s] not enough money, everything's too high, when you come here you can get basically everything here a little cheaper."

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Wynne, who used to work in the aerospace industry, is living off disability payments, he said.

The Long Beach store was still well stocked on Friday morning with fruits, vegetables, paper goods, pet food, and a variety of other products.

The announcement of the discount chain's closure illustrates the wide impact a corporate decision in an uncertain business climate can have on many working class consumers.

A man wearing glasses and a blue beanie pushing a shopping cart stocked with gray bags of goods in a store parking lot.

Why, oh why, is it closing?

The company said the move to close was a tough business decision.

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"Unfortunately, the last several years have presented significant and lasting challenges in the retail environment, including the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, shifting consumer demand, rising levels of shrink, persistent inflationary pressures and other macroeconomic headwinds,” the City of Commerce-based company said in a written statement on Thursday.

The company said the stores would close after a sell-off of inventory that began Friday. A private equity firm purchased the company in 2011, after which the chain added stores.

“Typically what happens in private equity is that… you take on a lot of debt, and I think that's really what happened to 99 Cent stores,” said Sucharita Kodali, a retail and consumer goods analyst at Forrester Research who spoke on LAist’s AirTalk.

“[The company] may have had challenges paying their debt or they paid it off and now they're just kind of winding down the business,” she added.

Customers already thinking of other options

Unlike in rural areas, Southern California provides many other options for discount goods shoppers.

A woman with long black hair standing in front of a store front with a sign that says "Fresh Fruit Vegetables"

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“I’m probably going to CVS or Walmart,” said Loretta Spearmint at the Long Beach store.

She said she buys mostly automobile products, chips, and candy at the store. But those are products also available at drug store chains and big box retailers, so she’ll go there from now on.

“I have a decent income… I’m concerned for the people who come here to save money… a lot of seniors come here to save money,” she said. People who receive public food assistance also frequent the chain.

It’s unclear how 99 Cents Only is going to handle what may be increased traffic as customers stock up on products they’ll no longer be able to buy there at their current prices.

“[The closing’s] a big deal because even at the big stores I shop for a bargain,” said Dorothy Pleasant of Long Beach, who’s retired but works part time as a substitute teacher.

“I try to save every dollar I can because everything else is going up like gas’s almost $5 a gallon,” she said.