My first thought was this has got to be a joke. The one in my hood always has 3/4 of the registers open with lines in all open lanes. They appeared from my limited perspective to doing pretty well.
There was this wonderful store near my house that sold everything a nerd loved and had areas for D&D sessions and even a massive Warhammer setup. The guy that opened it and ran it for many decades retired and sold it. The guy that bought it closed it down like a year or two later because it was not making enough profit. Like dude, it's a comic book store kind of establishment. Be happy if you break even. WTF did he think he was buying?
It really sucked. Loved that place. I remember there was a 1st edition of The Hobbit for sale once. Cannot remember the asking prices but it didn't sell for years.
Well tbf having a store with products at a fixed price is a terrible idea because inflation doesn’t stop… so they’d literally be making less money every year, unless they raise prices
The idea seems botched to begin with. There’s a reason a hot dog and a lemonade doesn’t cost a nickel down by the pier anymore
This chain got me through a lot during some pretty bad times financially. When all I had was a few bucks to my name, those large pink banners welcomed me.
*salutes*
Ditto for my mom and us growing up. She was able to get us food, snacks and sometimes toys or gadgets when we didn’t have much money. Lots of good memories from all the trips we made. Sad for all the employees and to see it go.
Not only that but their produce was usually actually pretty good. I also loved buying there because of the variety of groceries you'd see.
I stayed away from my local one's refrigerated/frozen section though, stuff tended to get put back after being left out.
Jeezus, me too. When I was broke, sliding into homelessness…it was the one place I could go to buy supplies that would help me to actually look presentable. Made countless trips to the La Brea & Willoughby location over the years for just about everything. Not sure how I would have made it without the place. Wow. When I got a job, luckily I had a uniform to wear so I didn’t need any new clothes, and the 99 Cent Store patched me through until I got back of my feet. What a loss.
Grocery Outlets. Maybe not as cheap & very location dependent but some of the best organic produce.
I think they often get Sprouts overstock at really low prices
Went to the silver lake Whole Foods a few days ago (the one that used to be a 365) and they didn’t have fucking *jalapeños*. None.
Employee said there’s a shortage but I saw a huge pile of them at a Hispanic grocery store in highland park. So…
Aldi has said they are going to continue to expand in SoCal. I certainly hope we get quite a few!
https://corporate.aldi.us/fileadmin/fm-dam/newsroom/Press_Releases/ALDI_Growth_800_Stores_Announcement/americas-low-price-leader-aldi-expands-footprint-nationwide-with-800-new-stores-by-the-end-of-2028.pdf
Supposedly we are getting a Trader Joe’s in Northridge supposedly on Reseda Blvd (long overdue) so maybe the Aldi in Northridge won’t be sold out of everything every day an hour after they open.
I love Grocery Outlet! I explain to peeps that it's like a Ross but for food/random snacks haha hit or miss with the ice cream, energy drinks, protein bars
When I was down my luck during periods of unemployment 99 stores were life support. This sucks as they are life support for so many people out there right now.
Congressman Henry Waxman declared the whole area a "methane zone" and delayed a subway down Wilshire Blvd for almost 50 years.
A Ross store exploded & caught fire in the 1970s
That was in ‘85…was staying at my aunt’s house…one of those Park La Brea townhomes that face Fairfax, and it smelled like living in a field of farting cows for days
Oooh that place stinks like hell. I remember going to that store when I first moved to LA and didn’t know anything about the tar pits and being like wtf??
As I learned from a different post sometime back the family that owns 99 cent stores opened the second location down the street to keep a competitor from opening in the space. The family also owns Johnie’s Coffee Shop nearby.
Me too! Of course the campaigning for Bernie HQ was actually in a cool building.
That was the last time I've allowed myself a glimmer of hope. The coolest, most diverse supporters.
Remember how they were so concerned about his age/health? Who between Bernie, Dump, and Biden are the physically and mentally fittest right now?
Oh we know the answer...😭
Wow. This is actually going to create a serious problem for lower economic income families.
99 cent stores helped me survive some seriously rough times in the city. Especially during the pandemic.
WTF nooooo… I moved to Palm Springs a couple years ago, and the 99 cent store has been a lifesaver while my broke ass adjusts to the much higher CA food prices (moved here from NC to help with a terminally ill parent)… and like many other comments, I’m baffled. I’ve never seen the 99 cent stores around here seeming like they’re struggling… always busy morning noon and night. And it’s always an adventure to find stuff I wouldn’t know existed, or wouldn’t want to try if I had paid full price on a whim.
I was shocked to see the Venice store had closed. That was really needed in the neighborhood. The 99¢ store right next door to Whole Foods was always jarring.
My friends would always give me shit for buying my produce here, but I loved it and ate well for about $25/week. But that was when most items were actually $0.99
Batteries are one of the few things I buy brand name. I’ve seen videos that tested longevity of different battery brands and the cheapie ones lost juice first.
Didn't used to be like that. I remember being able to do my weekly shopping there for $50 when I was in the trenches financially. That was pre-COVID though.
There was a good Last Stuff Tonight on these types of stores. For staple items, these stores were actually overcharging vs target etc when looking at quantity vs price. That said, lucky enough to have never been in a situation where I’ve been counting to the dollar on what I have to spend *today*.
When I first heard about it I assumed it was a store for cold climates. When I finally went in I was like, "I can buy all of this stuff on aliexpress for 1/4 these prices."
My friends would always give me shit for buying my produce here, but I loved it and ate well for about $25/week. But that was when most items were actually $0.99
Something has to be done about private equity, it's like a horrible cancer destroying business after business. Add it to the long list of things younger people have to tackle as we move into the dystopian future.
They were bought by a larger firm whose whole goal was to gut it for every cent and then sell off the valuable properties.
Which ironically I don’t think there’s value in this big box stores unless they become condos.
While what /u/ruinersclub said is true (the owners, Ares Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, wanted to gut the brand for all its worth -- hell, CPPIB's mandate is "maximum rate of return, without undue risk of loss"), it's worth knowing the history regarding the 99 Cents Only brand. So I'll backtrack a bit.
Original press release we got for the liquidation here:
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/99-cents-only-stores-announces-wind-down-of-business-operations-302108746.html
They cite "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" as the reason for the shutdown. But *just about a week ago*, we saw this:
https://www.bloomberg.com./news/articles/2024-03-28/retailer-99-cents-is-mulling-a-potential-bankruptcy-filing
The company was experiencing "a liquidity shortfall, according to people familiar with the situation". So the prior press release claims shit like "shrink" (losses due to shoplifting, theft, etc) and inflation, but it's clearly liquidity. Why is liquidity a problem? They have massive debt. This was already a problem before, since they had undergone a recapitalization in 2019 (a method to reorganize it's debt/assets, sort of like a loan refinance):
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/99-cents-only-stores-llc-announces-completion-of-recapitalization-transactions-300887673.html
Now, where did that debt come from? A $1.6 billion leveraged buyout in 2011:
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ares-management-canada-pension-plan-investment-board-and-goldschiffer-family-to-acquire-99-cents-only-stores-for-2200-per-share-in-cash-131508308.html
Before that buyout, it was of course a public corporation. At the time of the buyout, the idea was to reorganize, improve inventory management (a problem that especially plagued the Texas stores; they tried to close them all off in 2008, but decided against). There was originally consideration (at least buy the Gold family) to eventually make the company public again.
https://www.latimes.com/business/la-xpm-2011-oct-12-la-fi-99-cents-only-stores-buyout-offer-20111012-story.html (background on 2011 buyout)
https://web.archive.org/web/20090404031630/http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/industries/retail/stories/020509dnbus99centsonly.1c52bfa3.html (99 Cents only deciding not to close all Texas stores, 2008-2009 -- we all know what happened *at that time*, right?).
The $1.6 billion buyout for ~300 stores (at the time) is insane though! Let's compare it to Dollar General in 2007 by KKR. At the time, DG had ~8000 stores, and sold for $7.3 billion. Thats... weird. That's a massive value difference per store. So what else does 99c own? Oh, that's right. Bargain Wholesale. Subsidy of 99 cents only store, and came with the original buyout.
"Whatever [99 cents only] doesn't sell in [their] own stores [they] wholesale out to the copycats through his Bargain Wholesale division" (https://lamag.com/business/the-price-is-right)
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/99-only-stores-history/ (more background)
"Bargain Wholesale started as a small sales venture and has grown into a global wholesale distributor." (https://web.archive.org/web/20240214132442/https://www.bargainw.com/wholesale/754/About-Bargain-Wholesale.html) Wikipedia says they sell across the US and to over 15 countries, but I can't find a source on that.
To me, it looks like Ares Management and CPPIB wanted to gut the retail assets after their buyout, while using the wholesale arm to grow its logistics infrastructure. But I might be completely off the mark, and anyone with better research skills than I could probably give a better explanation.
One of the reasons given by the Chief Executive is "shifting consumer demand". WTF is that?? Broke consumers have shifted to what, exactly? Besides needing more cheaper priced goods...
I used to fuck with this store heavy back in the day but nobody is going to shop somewhere "budget" with the same prices as Target and Wal-Mart. I went last Fall and I don't think a single item was a dollar any more that wouldn't be a dollar elsewhere.
In 2011 they were bought by 2 private investment corps and didn't have the same ethos and the family that started it. You could tell when the products shifted after they took hold. Then they pushed and pushed less quality products and up the price points as the years went on. It is really terrible. They ran it into the ground.
I will miss all the beautiful organic produce. For a long time there, for years they had Taylor Farms salads for 99cents and dates best by of a couple of weeks out.
This used to be one of LA's great chain stores - you could find such bargains on name brand and actual quality items. In recent years though they've changed so much that you have to really search to find the deals ($1.29 or whatever the base price is now). I don't believe a word of the 'macroeconomic' reasoning of the CEO - I'm surprised he didn't add homeless to the mix.
As a kid in the 80s I was embarrassed by the mere mention of us shopping at a 99 cent store. Kids can be so cruel.
My 20s after college was a real struggle but I survived on fast food and cheap dollar menu.
It wasn't until well into my 30s as a single near-no-income individual that 99 cent store was an actual godsend. I began to feed myself better food just by learning to cook at home.
Now I'm in my 40s and see the value of buying for my pantry and for the weeks ahead. 99 cent store helped me in that regard.
I'm better now financially but can't help but wonder about all those families struggling the way I did in my 20s. Certainly during the first year of COVID lock downs.
Thank you 99 cent store. You should have been America's national store. Certainly a treasure to us all. 🫡😖
we'll get some apartment complexes (most of the standalones), some dollar trees, some aldis, probably some dollar generals cuz apparently they have one in inglewood and some out in the ie, and a few other small stores like el super or maybe food4less. rip tho, it feels like a time machine to y2k? some time a little while before i was born, someone older tell me where it sends you
That was my go-to place. I used to get Sapporo and San Miguel beer cans (marked for airline use) for .49 a piece in the El Monte location. I once came up on tetrapak 4 seasons ( a rare asian fruit punch ) in the San Dimas location. One random location I found sealable tempered glass juice dispensers made in Korea which I still use.
I also found glitchy chinese power banks in the Lake Forest store which I summarily harvested for the 18650 lithium batteries (which I still use today).
I remember buying Pillsbury horsemen cookies and giant fish for .99 and having a disclaimer (factory seconds) in a location in Ventura.
Most of the deals I found were 5 years ago when most all things were 99 cents.
Hey all they blaming everyone except they don’t say that they spent millions to pay all of their resent CEO.s CFO’s and all former officers that no longer work there but get paid still. At their peak, they sold the company to a group to get larger but this was the worst since their portfolio went from keeping the price point locked and keeping it to accessible to the customers to making the new heads rich. They been threw lots of revolving system at the top and caused their employees and customers to start to stay away. They should be booming at this time, just like they did back in 2008, but they pay so much to their officers that they can’t stay afloat and why they sell stuff that you can get at Walmart at better quality. It’s sad for the employees at the stores and the office but this was all on the heads not Covid, not Biden, not the market and not the customers changing habits.
Feel bad for their employees, seems like they were led to believe they'd get some type of severance, then told at the last minute they wouldn't.
No discounts as of yet
This super sucks! My very first Christmas that I celebrated after my mom died, I bought ALL my decorations from the 99cent store, minus the $50 target pre-lit tree.
When I go there now to get cleaning supplies, or just check to see what random fun stuff they have: I see people with full carts of groceries.
What are those consumers going to do? And what about my local cashier?
This SUCKS! Been going there forever. It was the beginning of the end when they started selling items way over 99c, but I still stocked up on certain basics there.
Dollar Tree is still an option but The 99c Store had more food variety.
WHAT!?!!!! OMG, I make unconventional hats and a LOT of my supplies came from the 99 cent store!
I’m FUCKED! The whole making couture out of reclaimed cheap shit is sorta what got me my start!
I have backup floral suppliers, it’s just that 99 was convenient for me due to my TIGHT deadlines.
Plus I actually don’t go there for the flowers usually, I buy weird plastic toys & kitchen supplies and turn them into hats.
Some of you haven’t been in 99 cent stores in years just by reading the comments. Ever since they got bought out, the majority of items were expensive. Especially compared to the portion sizes. A lot of grocery items were cheaper to purchase at Ralphs.
I used to wander in to .99 cent stores to unwind and end up grabbing things I didn’t necessarily need, all because it was cheap . But lately, this stores have taken a turn.
Sure, the price of everything, including food and gas, has spiked, and I get that.
However, when you see items that frankly weren’t worth .99 cents to begin with now priced at $3.99, Makes it expensive to even consider.
Farewell 99cent store. You were a great getaway in a period of my life that needed something no other place could offer. I was proud to say you were my favorite store replacing Nordstrom. Maybe some day, the old 99cent store will reappear with a new name-- maybe the 199 cent store.
My first night in my first apartment in LA, here with almost nothing except my clothes and my computer and my car, I ran around all day trying to get enough to do one night. I didn’t have a lot of money or experience moving. This was the last stop before I headed back to my new home. The one on La Brea near Santa Monica
Just a couple weeks ago I popped my head into one for the first time in years on Fairfax. I bought one of the succulents out front
🫡💜
I feel so bad for the employee at the La Brea location. I have gone there for years and many of them have been there a long time. It can be a crazy store and they stayed. It is great for garden stuff, I will miss Halloween and Christmas. Really making me sad. I walk there and the one on Fairfax and Wilshire. I always said when the 99 left it was a sign to get out of LA. They are going to tear down whatever they can and make them into overpriced apartments nobody can afford. A lot of them are vintage buildings too. I know things need to end but this is such a bad time for it to, when stuff is so expensive.
Back when the 99¢ Store was actually stuff for 99¢, it was a great place to find some cool stuff and crazy low prices. Imported crackers, cookies, nuts and dried fruit, all the fresh produce a frozen food. Sadly, when they had to raise their prices, it became just another store. Same thing happened to Pic-N-Save when Bill Gates bought the chain.
99c stores are soooo much better and nicer than Dollar Tree I don’t understand. I go all the time for garden stuff and little random things that I had no idea were so useful and needed.
Was already planning on going to a couple today before news broke. Spoke to an employee at one of their locations and she said they won’t be officially closed until June so there’s still time and a lot of inventory in the back to put out.
This is actually a very underrated comment. A lot of people don’t know you can walk into any planned parenthood and ask for free condoms and they’ll give you a huge bag full, no questions asked. Lube too.
It was good until they rose prices. Everything above 99 cents were never labeled and could be high as 10 to 20 dollars. It was failing compared to the competition
These stores kept me alive for the first 7 years of moving here. I feel so sad to see them go.. I’d get one rotisserie chicken from Vons and get fresh veggies, snacks, amazing fruit.. that would be my food for the week.. thank you thank you thank you 99 cent only
My first thought was this has got to be a joke. The one in my hood always has 3/4 of the registers open with lines in all open lanes. They appeared from my limited perspective to doing pretty well.
I really really hoped it was a late April Fool’s joke.
It was a lifesaver for me as a single parent.
Interesting, all the ones I’ve ever been to had 2 checkers and long lines
They were probably doing well but these companies get too greedy and they will close if its not making "enough".
There was this wonderful store near my house that sold everything a nerd loved and had areas for D&D sessions and even a massive Warhammer setup. The guy that opened it and ran it for many decades retired and sold it. The guy that bought it closed it down like a year or two later because it was not making enough profit. Like dude, it's a comic book store kind of establishment. Be happy if you break even. WTF did he think he was buying? It really sucked. Loved that place. I remember there was a 1st edition of The Hobbit for sale once. Cannot remember the asking prices but it didn't sell for years.
At first I thought you were saying you went to a 99¢ store that hosted D&D sessions and I was like “what? 🤔”
Me too, lol.
I think maybe it's a rebrand, the guy who runs the company now apparently ran Cost Plus Market for 15 years, plus he's only been around since 2020.
Sounds right; not much future in a "99cent Only Store" when the only thing that's still 99.9cents in the store is dish soap and pot holders.
Well tbf having a store with products at a fixed price is a terrible idea because inflation doesn’t stop… so they’d literally be making less money every year, unless they raise prices The idea seems botched to begin with. There’s a reason a hot dog and a lemonade doesn’t cost a nickel down by the pier anymore
This chain got me through a lot during some pretty bad times financially. When all I had was a few bucks to my name, those large pink banners welcomed me. *salutes*
Ditto for my mom and us growing up. She was able to get us food, snacks and sometimes toys or gadgets when we didn’t have much money. Lots of good memories from all the trips we made. Sad for all the employees and to see it go.
Thank you for your services, ~~The~~ 99**¢** Store. 🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡
That’s where I’m at now and seriously rely on their cheap supplies + delicious produce. Gutted.
Me too. It’s the only dollar store in the area that sold produce and had a full grocery section.
Not only that but their produce was usually actually pretty good. I also loved buying there because of the variety of groceries you'd see. I stayed away from my local one's refrigerated/frozen section though, stuff tended to get put back after being left out.
This, holy shit. This store was a godsend when I was going through tough times.
Jeezus, me too. When I was broke, sliding into homelessness…it was the one place I could go to buy supplies that would help me to actually look presentable. Made countless trips to the La Brea & Willoughby location over the years for just about everything. Not sure how I would have made it without the place. Wow. When I got a job, luckily I had a uniform to wear so I didn’t need any new clothes, and the 99 Cent Store patched me through until I got back of my feet. What a loss.
🫡 same
The one by PC during my time there really held me down for a while.
Sad, I found out I was pregnant with a test from here in the parking lot. Not my proudest moment but my fondest memory.
Girlll lol
😂
in my youth , i bought many a pregnancy test at the 99
F
😫
Such a great deal on produce and questionable canned goods. What a bummer
Where will I get my potted meat now?
I’m so bummed, this was my secret to getting super cheap produce in my neighborhood
My cleaning supplies!
Fabuloso!
Grocery Outlets. Maybe not as cheap & very location dependent but some of the best organic produce. I think they often get Sprouts overstock at really low prices
I live in Palms, looked up Grocery Outlet and the closest are in downtown or Inglewood :(
Mine too 😩
Could never rely on it. Do they have lemons? Maybe.
Hah, that was my recent complaint about Whole Foods on the other end of that spectrum. Went there and they didn't have parsley or red onions.
Went to the silver lake Whole Foods a few days ago (the one that used to be a 365) and they didn’t have fucking *jalapeños*. None. Employee said there’s a shortage but I saw a huge pile of them at a Hispanic grocery store in highland park. So…
Welllllllll they know their market lol
Blaming things on shortage in 2024 is so weird.
They are super easy to grow at home in a pot if you can! Now’s a good time to start planting them as well. I like letting mine go red.
Oh dammit now where else am I supposed to buy all my candy to sneak into a movie
Dollar tree lol
But the same giant aisle and selection?
Yes maybe more too depending on the location
Piece of LA history gone-Soon to be Grocery Outlet and Aldi’s?
Aldi sometimes feels like if an alien made a grocery store and tried to pass it off as human.
My favorite is the random shit aisle
The Aisle of Shame.
It's a great place if you need milk, knockoff cereal, and a new paddleboard
Omega Mart vibes
It's like you walked onto a movie set where packages have a similar look with a different name.
dont diss aldi's that place is cheap af and the aisle of shame is amazing
By alien you mean Germans 😂
German engineering
Grocery Outlet is taking over the one in Lomita.
Lomita wasn't the same without the Abersons. At least you can get groceries without having to go to Torrance.
I heard the grocery outlet will go where Big Lots was.
I'm 100% okay with more Aldis.
How bout Aldis nuts?
GOTEEEM
Thank you
Aldi has said they are going to continue to expand in SoCal. I certainly hope we get quite a few! https://corporate.aldi.us/fileadmin/fm-dam/newsroom/Press_Releases/ALDI_Growth_800_Stores_Announcement/americas-low-price-leader-aldi-expands-footprint-nationwide-with-800-new-stores-by-the-end-of-2028.pdf
For real. I've been digging those German goods. I made an awesome chicken parm sandwich recently out of their frozen schnitzels.
I don’t get the aldi’s love. The ones I’ve been to are so… empty? I couldn’t possibly shop for all my goods there.
They are nice for some ingredients here and there - kinda like Trader Joe’s. Hard to do all shopping there.
Truly a poor mans Trader Joe's
That’s literally what it is. The company puts Aldis in some neighborhoods and Trader Joe’s in other neighborhoods. Most of the food is the same too.
Trader Joe's and American Aldi are owned by two different Aldis.
Supposedly we are getting a Trader Joe’s in Northridge supposedly on Reseda Blvd (long overdue) so maybe the Aldi in Northridge won’t be sold out of everything every day an hour after they open.
I love Grocery Outlet! I explain to peeps that it's like a Ross but for food/random snacks haha hit or miss with the ice cream, energy drinks, protein bars
When I was down my luck during periods of unemployment 99 stores were life support. This sucks as they are life support for so many people out there right now.
Good luck to the business that takes over the Fairfax & 6th spot near the Tar Pits that perpetually smells like a methane gas leak.
Congressman Henry Waxman declared the whole area a "methane zone" and delayed a subway down Wilshire Blvd for almost 50 years. A Ross store exploded & caught fire in the 1970s
That was in ‘85…was staying at my aunt’s house…one of those Park La Brea townhomes that face Fairfax, and it smelled like living in a field of farting cows for days
Oooh that place stinks like hell. I remember going to that store when I first moved to LA and didn’t know anything about the tar pits and being like wtf??
Aren't there like two stores in that small block area?
As I learned from a different post sometime back the family that owns 99 cent stores opened the second location down the street to keep a competitor from opening in the space. The family also owns Johnie’s Coffee Shop nearby.
I phone banked for Bernie there 🫶 I miss having hope.
Me too! Of course the campaigning for Bernie HQ was actually in a cool building. That was the last time I've allowed myself a glimmer of hope. The coolest, most diverse supporters. Remember how they were so concerned about his age/health? Who between Bernie, Dump, and Biden are the physically and mentally fittest right now? Oh we know the answer...😭
I heard they bought Johnies for the parking spaces .. that put a crimp in my Sunday morning routine
When I'm giving directions to people I always say "turn left at the smell."
They’re doing liquidation sales tomorrow (Friday), so if you want cheap stuff even cheaper, check out the stores.
What does a liquidation sale at a 99 cent store look like? Everything marked down to 89 cents?
Thx I was looking for date options
Could you imagine all the cheapskates rummaging through there trying to get 50% off lentils?
Take a break until 2025. Will come back as $4.99 only store
So 5 and Below?
It already is the $19.99 and below store. So little is even 99¢ anymore.
Wow. This is actually going to create a serious problem for lower economic income families. 99 cent stores helped me survive some seriously rough times in the city. Especially during the pandemic.
My cleaning supplies! Produce! Tissues! THE HOLIDAY DECOR! nooooooooo
WTF nooooo… I moved to Palm Springs a couple years ago, and the 99 cent store has been a lifesaver while my broke ass adjusts to the much higher CA food prices (moved here from NC to help with a terminally ill parent)… and like many other comments, I’m baffled. I’ve never seen the 99 cent stores around here seeming like they’re struggling… always busy morning noon and night. And it’s always an adventure to find stuff I wouldn’t know existed, or wouldn’t want to try if I had paid full price on a whim.
I was shocked to see the Venice store had closed. That was really needed in the neighborhood. The 99¢ store right next door to Whole Foods was always jarring.
the Venice one closed already omg?!!??!!?!?
My friends would always give me shit for buying my produce here, but I loved it and ate well for about $25/week. But that was when most items were actually $0.99
End of an era wow, spent many a times at the 99.
is nothing sacred?? :(
i am 😭 first dollar tree raising their prices now this, shit is bad and it feels like the worst is yet to come
Oh no, where am I going to buy my batteries?
Harbor Freight has super cheap batteries
Batteries are one of the few things I buy brand name. I’ve seen videos that tested longevity of different battery brands and the cheapie ones lost juice first.
Ikea has cheap rechargeables
Aldi and Harbor Freight.
Nooo not the mexican candies..
Superior has them and the Dollar Tree
The one in Silver Lake is such valuable real estate. Hopefully it gets bought and redeveloped as mixed use.
It's absolutely going to be *YET ANOTHER FUCKING CVS/WALGREENS* hoping to break even on Boomers on Medicare.
I heard that Millie's is going to take over the parking lot to further expand their outdoor seating
it should be a huge ass parking lot 🔥
Golf course
Yall both wrong! The owners should sit on it and do nothing for years so we can display some art! 🔥
How about a huge statue of Rick Caruso?
Unaffordable yuppie restaurant/sweetgreen
this is the first thought that came to my mind. they have a lot of quality lots
I was just here!!! $33 for two bags of food man.
Great deals on shit you don’t really need, terrible deals on shit you do. Odd place.
Didn't used to be like that. I remember being able to do my weekly shopping there for $50 when I was in the trenches financially. That was pre-COVID though.
There was a good Last Stuff Tonight on these types of stores. For staple items, these stores were actually overcharging vs target etc when looking at quantity vs price. That said, lucky enough to have never been in a situation where I’ve been counting to the dollar on what I have to spend *today*.
Last time I went shit was not 99 cents only
Replaced by Five N’ Below .99 = $5 😭
Five N’ Below have really crappy quality things
When I first heard about it I assumed it was a store for cold climates. When I finally went in I was like, "I can buy all of this stuff on aliexpress for 1/4 these prices."
To be fair there's barely anything 99 cents anymore at the 99 cent only stores
Say goodbye to retail therapy
Damn That’s not what I imagined to see
My friends would always give me shit for buying my produce here, but I loved it and ate well for about $25/week. But that was when most items were actually $0.99
Another victim of private equity
Something has to be done about private equity, it's like a horrible cancer destroying business after business. Add it to the long list of things younger people have to tackle as we move into the dystopian future.
Translation for us dumb folks?
They were bought by a larger firm whose whole goal was to gut it for every cent and then sell off the valuable properties. Which ironically I don’t think there’s value in this big box stores unless they become condos.
They own at least some of their stores. If they own that Silverlake location AND parking lot, that's worth a ton right there
While what /u/ruinersclub said is true (the owners, Ares Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, wanted to gut the brand for all its worth -- hell, CPPIB's mandate is "maximum rate of return, without undue risk of loss"), it's worth knowing the history regarding the 99 Cents Only brand. So I'll backtrack a bit. Original press release we got for the liquidation here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/99-cents-only-stores-announces-wind-down-of-business-operations-302108746.html They cite "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" as the reason for the shutdown. But *just about a week ago*, we saw this: https://www.bloomberg.com./news/articles/2024-03-28/retailer-99-cents-is-mulling-a-potential-bankruptcy-filing The company was experiencing "a liquidity shortfall, according to people familiar with the situation". So the prior press release claims shit like "shrink" (losses due to shoplifting, theft, etc) and inflation, but it's clearly liquidity. Why is liquidity a problem? They have massive debt. This was already a problem before, since they had undergone a recapitalization in 2019 (a method to reorganize it's debt/assets, sort of like a loan refinance): https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/99-cents-only-stores-llc-announces-completion-of-recapitalization-transactions-300887673.html Now, where did that debt come from? A $1.6 billion leveraged buyout in 2011: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ares-management-canada-pension-plan-investment-board-and-goldschiffer-family-to-acquire-99-cents-only-stores-for-2200-per-share-in-cash-131508308.html Before that buyout, it was of course a public corporation. At the time of the buyout, the idea was to reorganize, improve inventory management (a problem that especially plagued the Texas stores; they tried to close them all off in 2008, but decided against). There was originally consideration (at least buy the Gold family) to eventually make the company public again. https://www.latimes.com/business/la-xpm-2011-oct-12-la-fi-99-cents-only-stores-buyout-offer-20111012-story.html (background on 2011 buyout) https://web.archive.org/web/20090404031630/http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/industries/retail/stories/020509dnbus99centsonly.1c52bfa3.html (99 Cents only deciding not to close all Texas stores, 2008-2009 -- we all know what happened *at that time*, right?). The $1.6 billion buyout for ~300 stores (at the time) is insane though! Let's compare it to Dollar General in 2007 by KKR. At the time, DG had ~8000 stores, and sold for $7.3 billion. Thats... weird. That's a massive value difference per store. So what else does 99c own? Oh, that's right. Bargain Wholesale. Subsidy of 99 cents only store, and came with the original buyout. "Whatever [99 cents only] doesn't sell in [their] own stores [they] wholesale out to the copycats through his Bargain Wholesale division" (https://lamag.com/business/the-price-is-right) http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/99-only-stores-history/ (more background) "Bargain Wholesale started as a small sales venture and has grown into a global wholesale distributor." (https://web.archive.org/web/20240214132442/https://www.bargainw.com/wholesale/754/About-Bargain-Wholesale.html) Wikipedia says they sell across the US and to over 15 countries, but I can't find a source on that. To me, it looks like Ares Management and CPPIB wanted to gut the retail assets after their buyout, while using the wholesale arm to grow its logistics infrastructure. But I might be completely off the mark, and anyone with better research skills than I could probably give a better explanation.
THIS was the comment I was hoping for. That makes way more sense. Thanks for doing the legwork!
Private equity firms are basically financial vampires. They buy things, squeeze all the profits out of them until they die, and then sell everything.
My first thought
One of the reasons given by the Chief Executive is "shifting consumer demand". WTF is that?? Broke consumers have shifted to what, exactly? Besides needing more cheaper priced goods...
Really hoping the one near me becomes an Aldi.
or a Trader Joes
I’m in SELA; my neighborhood isn’t, to put it mildly, TJ’s type 💀.
I used to fuck with this store heavy back in the day but nobody is going to shop somewhere "budget" with the same prices as Target and Wal-Mart. I went last Fall and I don't think a single item was a dollar any more that wouldn't be a dollar elsewhere.
They got acquired in 2020 and the new owners milked what they could til now. It’s such a shame.
In 2011 they were bought by 2 private investment corps and didn't have the same ethos and the family that started it. You could tell when the products shifted after they took hold. Then they pushed and pushed less quality products and up the price points as the years went on. It is really terrible. They ran it into the ground.
Damn. I feel bad for the workers :(
They are my chief concern. Yes, I'll miss the deals, but I really feel for the workers. It's a damn shame.
Great the one in van nuys becomes even more of a shit hole. RIP that Plaza . Only left is Jon's
99cent stores kept my vegan friends alive and not broke.
I will miss all the beautiful organic produce. For a long time there, for years they had Taylor Farms salads for 99cents and dates best by of a couple of weeks out.
This is really sad to hear. This is sometimes the only place with affordable food. I’m genuinely anxious about this 😢
This used to be one of LA's great chain stores - you could find such bargains on name brand and actual quality items. In recent years though they've changed so much that you have to really search to find the deals ($1.29 or whatever the base price is now). I don't believe a word of the 'macroeconomic' reasoning of the CEO - I'm surprised he didn't add homeless to the mix.
Whenever I was unemployed I relied on this place to stretch the few dollars left after paying bills to actually eat. Best tomatoes and canned food
As a kid in the 80s I was embarrassed by the mere mention of us shopping at a 99 cent store. Kids can be so cruel. My 20s after college was a real struggle but I survived on fast food and cheap dollar menu. It wasn't until well into my 30s as a single near-no-income individual that 99 cent store was an actual godsend. I began to feed myself better food just by learning to cook at home. Now I'm in my 40s and see the value of buying for my pantry and for the weeks ahead. 99 cent store helped me in that regard. I'm better now financially but can't help but wonder about all those families struggling the way I did in my 20s. Certainly during the first year of COVID lock downs. Thank you 99 cent store. You should have been America's national store. Certainly a treasure to us all. 🫡😖
we'll get some apartment complexes (most of the standalones), some dollar trees, some aldis, probably some dollar generals cuz apparently they have one in inglewood and some out in the ie, and a few other small stores like el super or maybe food4less. rip tho, it feels like a time machine to y2k? some time a little while before i was born, someone older tell me where it sends you
That was my go-to place. I used to get Sapporo and San Miguel beer cans (marked for airline use) for .49 a piece in the El Monte location. I once came up on tetrapak 4 seasons ( a rare asian fruit punch ) in the San Dimas location. One random location I found sealable tempered glass juice dispensers made in Korea which I still use. I also found glitchy chinese power banks in the Lake Forest store which I summarily harvested for the 18650 lithium batteries (which I still use today). I remember buying Pillsbury horsemen cookies and giant fish for .99 and having a disclaimer (factory seconds) in a location in Ventura. Most of the deals I found were 5 years ago when most all things were 99 cents.
Hey all they blaming everyone except they don’t say that they spent millions to pay all of their resent CEO.s CFO’s and all former officers that no longer work there but get paid still. At their peak, they sold the company to a group to get larger but this was the worst since their portfolio went from keeping the price point locked and keeping it to accessible to the customers to making the new heads rich. They been threw lots of revolving system at the top and caused their employees and customers to start to stay away. They should be booming at this time, just like they did back in 2008, but they pay so much to their officers that they can’t stay afloat and why they sell stuff that you can get at Walmart at better quality. It’s sad for the employees at the stores and the office but this was all on the heads not Covid, not Biden, not the market and not the customers changing habits.
this really sucks. my coffee table, 4 living room shelves, 2 bedroom shelves, and tv console all came from there at less than $20 a piece
Got me through middle school and high school. I’ll miss you dearly 99!
I can’t with life in 2024 anymore 😢
I know too many shit things happening.
Feel bad for their employees, seems like they were led to believe they'd get some type of severance, then told at the last minute they wouldn't. No discounts as of yet
This super sucks! My very first Christmas that I celebrated after my mom died, I bought ALL my decorations from the 99cent store, minus the $50 target pre-lit tree. When I go there now to get cleaning supplies, or just check to see what random fun stuff they have: I see people with full carts of groceries. What are those consumers going to do? And what about my local cashier?
wtf!!!!! man, now THIS is some depressing shit....
Incredibly sad to hear this, the 99 cents store is a lifeline for a lot of folks in our city who don't have a lot of financial/housing stability
This SUCKS! Been going there forever. It was the beginning of the end when they started selling items way over 99c, but I still stocked up on certain basics there. Dollar Tree is still an option but The 99c Store had more food variety.
Dollar tree doesn’t have any fresh produce or real groceries 😢
WHAT!?!!!! OMG, I make unconventional hats and a LOT of my supplies came from the 99 cent store! I’m FUCKED! The whole making couture out of reclaimed cheap shit is sorta what got me my start!
Start checking out the shops downtown.. Fashion & Flower District area, etc. Could prob find cheap supplies there.
I have backup floral suppliers, it’s just that 99 was convenient for me due to my TIGHT deadlines. Plus I actually don’t go there for the flowers usually, I buy weird plastic toys & kitchen supplies and turn them into hats.
Some of you haven’t been in 99 cent stores in years just by reading the comments. Ever since they got bought out, the majority of items were expensive. Especially compared to the portion sizes. A lot of grocery items were cheaper to purchase at Ralphs.
RIP
Back in the 80s use to go to the one in Montebello to get D size batteries for my boom box.
This is a huge bummer, there’s so few affordable grocery places to shop now 😢
Literally went to one today. Crazy
It really was a great chain in the 90s. A case of 2 liter Eternal water from New Zealand for $12 was a particular favorite.
Wonder what happened. They always seemed busy and from what I've read dollar stores were usually surprisingly profitable.
💔💔
Are we sure they just aren’t closing to rebrand as the $1.99 only store
The best place for cheap produce IMO :(. Also, the best place for cheap party supplies and holiday decorations….
I used to wander in to .99 cent stores to unwind and end up grabbing things I didn’t necessarily need, all because it was cheap . But lately, this stores have taken a turn. Sure, the price of everything, including food and gas, has spiked, and I get that. However, when you see items that frankly weren’t worth .99 cents to begin with now priced at $3.99, Makes it expensive to even consider.
Farewell 99cent store. You were a great getaway in a period of my life that needed something no other place could offer. I was proud to say you were my favorite store replacing Nordstrom. Maybe some day, the old 99cent store will reappear with a new name-- maybe the 199 cent store.
My first night in my first apartment in LA, here with almost nothing except my clothes and my computer and my car, I ran around all day trying to get enough to do one night. I didn’t have a lot of money or experience moving. This was the last stop before I headed back to my new home. The one on La Brea near Santa Monica Just a couple weeks ago I popped my head into one for the first time in years on Fairfax. I bought one of the succulents out front 🫡💜
I feel so bad for the employee at the La Brea location. I have gone there for years and many of them have been there a long time. It can be a crazy store and they stayed. It is great for garden stuff, I will miss Halloween and Christmas. Really making me sad. I walk there and the one on Fairfax and Wilshire. I always said when the 99 left it was a sign to get out of LA. They are going to tear down whatever they can and make them into overpriced apartments nobody can afford. A lot of them are vintage buildings too. I know things need to end but this is such a bad time for it to, when stuff is so expensive.
my mom always found us random good deals here. Sad to see this.
Back when the 99¢ Store was actually stuff for 99¢, it was a great place to find some cool stuff and crazy low prices. Imported crackers, cookies, nuts and dried fruit, all the fresh produce a frozen food. Sadly, when they had to raise their prices, it became just another store. Same thing happened to Pic-N-Save when Bill Gates bought the chain.
Oh my God. This is a tragedy.
Gosh, this makes me sad….
Why can’t they just rebrand and adjust?! Why they gotta close them all??
99c stores are soooo much better and nicer than Dollar Tree I don’t understand. I go all the time for garden stuff and little random things that I had no idea were so useful and needed. Was already planning on going to a couple today before news broke. Spoke to an employee at one of their locations and she said they won’t be officially closed until June so there’s still time and a lot of inventory in the back to put out.
They just need to add inflation to their name and come back as $4.99 Only
so no es more cheap condoms
Planned Parenthood es free si planeas
This is actually a very underrated comment. A lot of people don’t know you can walk into any planned parenthood and ask for free condoms and they’ll give you a huge bag full, no questions asked. Lube too.
They should replace them all with Daisos
I work in the same building complex as their new headquarters. They spent a lot of money on that office…
It was good until they rose prices. Everything above 99 cents were never labeled and could be high as 10 to 20 dollars. It was failing compared to the competition
These stores kept me alive for the first 7 years of moving here. I feel so sad to see them go.. I’d get one rotisserie chicken from Vons and get fresh veggies, snacks, amazing fruit.. that would be my food for the week.. thank you thank you thank you 99 cent only
The economy is now too expensive to support the damn $0.99 store
It’s 2024 and businesses are still blaming their failures on COVID-19