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   99 Cents Only Stores will close all 371 of its stores and wind down its   
   business operations after more than four decades, the City of Commerce   
   discount chain announced Thursday.   
      
   “This was an extremely difficult decision and is not the outcome we   
   expected or hoped to achieve,” interim Chief Executive Mike Simoncic   
   said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the last several years have   
   presented significant and lasting challenges in the retail environment.”   
      
   He cited multiple factors, including the “unprecedented impact” of the   
   COVID-19 pandemic, shifting consumer demand, persistent inflationary   
   pressures and rising levels of shrink — an industry term that refers to   
   loss of inventory attributed to reasons such as shoplifting, employee   
   theft and administrative errors.   
      
   Combined, those issues “have greatly hindered the company’s ability to   
   operate,” Simoncic said.   
      
   99 Cents Only has stores in California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas and   
   has about 14,000 employees. The privately held company said it had   
   reached an agreement with Hilco Global to liquidate all of its   
   merchandise and dispose of fixtures, furnishings and equipment at its   
   stores. Sales are expected to begin Friday.   
      
   Hilco Real Estate is managing the sale of the company’s real estate   
   assets, which are owned or leased.   
      
   The announcement by 99 Cents Only reflects a larger weakness in the   
   dollar-store category, said Brad Thomas, equity research analyst at   
   KeyBanc Capital Markets.   
      
   Dollar Tree, a Chesapeake, Va., retailer, announced last month that it   
   was closing 600 of its Family Dollar stores this year and an additional   
   370 in the next few years, he noted.   
      
   “It’s been trying times for many, many retailers,” he said. “What’s   
   interesting is that what started out as a boon to retailers in the   
   pandemic, with all those stimulus checks, quickly turned into a very   
   troublesome time.”   
      
   Rising wages, inflation and higher losses due to shrinkage have reduced   
   profits for retailers in a deep-discount sector where margins are   
   already extremely low.   
      
   99 Cents Only, with its large base of California stores, has been under   
   particular wage pressure, he said. And it’s at a disadvantage compared   
   with larger chains such as market leader Dollar General, which has a   
   store count close to 20,000 — “a sales base and a store base that is   
   multiple times larger than 99 Cents,” Thomas said.   
      
   Last week, Bloomberg reported that 99 Cents Only was considering a   
   bankruptcy filing as it contended with a liquidity shortfall.   
      
   Founded in Los Angeles in 1982 by David Gold, 99 Cents Only popularized   
   the single-price retail concept. At the time, dollar stores were seen as   
   dumping grounds for undesirable products, but the Gold family made the   
   stores bright and well-organized, with good-quality merchandise   
   including groceries and household supplies.   
      
   “It was an instant success,” Howard Gold, one of David Gold’s sons,   
   recalled Friday; he and his three siblings all worked at 99 Cents Only.   
   “People thought it was government-subsidized because they couldn’t   
   believe the prices.”   
      
   For years, it remained one of the few true “dollar” stores, with items   
   priced at 99 cents or less or grouped to sell for a total of 99 cents.   
      
   That changed in 2008 when, faced with fast-rising inflation, soaring   
   food and fuel prices, and a higher minimum wage, 99 Cents Only announced   
   that it was straying from its long-standing price strategy.   
      
   Three years later, the company announced that it had agreed to be sold   
   in a deal valued at about $1.6 billion, as investors eyed dollar stores   
   that had grown in popularity during the Great Recession. In 2013, Howard   
   Gold and the rest of the family management team departed the company.   
      
   Today, with stores scattered around Los Angeles County — among them in   
   Hollywood, Silver Lake, Mid-Wilshire, Santa Monica, Thai Town, North   
   Hollywood and Glendale — the closure of 99 Cents Only will leave a   
   number of large vacant properties in prime locations.   
      
   “It’s very sad on many levels, and I’ll just leave it at that,” Gold,   
   now retired and living in Studio City, said of the decision to close the   
   chain his father built.   
      
   Other major retailers have also announced store closures in the region   
   lately, including REI in Santa Monica, Macy’s in Simi Valley and several   
   Rite Aid locations.   
      
   99 Cents Only did not respond to requests for comment.   
      
   Nicolas Kolesnikow, a retired teacher who lives in Westchester, said he   
   was shocked to hear the chain was going out of business. He shops at a   
   99 Cents Only about four blocks from his house several times a week.   
      
   “It’s almost like a corner store for me,” said Kolesnikow, 82.   
      
      
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