The 99 Cents Only Store at First Street and Bullard Avenue. Photo by Ben Hensley

Nearly a dozen Central Valley 99 Cents Only Stores are closing as part of a surprise announcement Thursday evening that the Los Angeles-based chain is winding down operations.

Altogether the chain has 371 stores in California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada. Liquidation sales are scheduled to start Friday – discounts include up to 30% off lowest ticketed prices across all departments.

Financial services company Hilco Real Estate is managing the sale of the Company’s real estate assets, both owned and leased. 

Mike Simoncic, interim CEO of 99 Cents Only Stores and managing director at management consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal, will step down. He cited several factors, including the pandemic, inflation and inventory loss from theft and other factors.

“This was an extremely difficult decision and is not the outcome we expected or hoped to achieve,” said Simoncic. “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, all of which have greatly hindered the Company’s ability to operate. We deeply appreciate the dedicated employees, customers, partners, and communities who have collectively supported 99 Cents Only Stores for decades.”

The announcement comes after months of pursuing alternatives that would allow the discount retailer to continue operating. In the end, it was determined “an orderly wind-down was necessary and the best way to maximize the value of 99 Cents Only Stores’ assets.”

In the Central Valley, the 99 Cents Only Stores website shows ten stores, including one each in Madera, Clovis, Sanger, Visalia, Hanford and Porterville. Fresno has five locations.

The real estate dealings of 99 Cents Only Stores came to public attention in Fresno last year when officials with the store at First Street and Bullard Avenue exercised a tenant veto on a Fresno branch library that sought to move into a former Rite Aid in the same shopping center.

Friends of the Leo Politi LIbrary said the 99 Cents Only Store blocking its relocation was especially disappointing because the store’s founder Dave Gold was friends with Fresno children’s author Leo Politi himself.

During Politi’s 100th birthday celebration in 2008, 99 Cents Only Stores provided support for the celebration, helping construct “99 Thanks for making it possible” — a compilation of 99 events and celebrations of Leo Politi’s life, works of art and service.

Gold, who died in 2013, launched the discount chain at age 50, according to a Los Angeles Times profile. He’s widely recognized for taking the dollar store concept to middle- and upper-class neighborhoods.

Gold described a certain magic to the number “99” that made people want to buy. That was the price for most of the store’s items until 2008, when inventory with a base price of 99 cents saw an effective extra charge of one penny. In 2022, that charge was extended to items priced over a dollar.

Founded in 1982, 99 Cents Only Stores employs an estimated 14,000 team members.