99c stores shutting down (sale, coupon, closing)

[Voebe]

I was dismayed to hear that the chain 99c Only is closing up shop. Only a few remain, for a few more weeks. I didn't go often, but I bought envelopes there because they were so cheap, and they carried a kind of notecard I like, which is nice for scribbling a note to a neighbor, nicer than just tearing a sheet off a pad.

But the curious thing is, I'd read that the dollar stores overall have been doing very well. The particular one I went to was busier than the Dollar Tree or Family Dollar counterparts. Which makes me wonder what happened. Was this bought by a larger corporation that ran it into the ground?

[ipaper]

Dollar Tree owns Family Dollar, and they will be closing down 600 Family Dollars stores. It's just probably too many of them, in my city we have all of the dollars stores everywhere around town. Dollar General leads the way here with dozens of stores all over the place.

[Bondurant]

Market is saturated with dollar stores and the shrink must be high.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

"These are tough times for two big US dollar store chains. In the past month, Family Dollar said it will close nearly 1,000 stores and 99 Cents Only said it will go out of business. Both companies said inflation and shoplifting have contributed to their troubles."

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/11/busin...eir%20troubles.

Skinny margins combined with costs in all categories going up, make higher shrinkage a nail in the coffin.

As always, in struggling times, the company with the best management wins. Dollar General is well-run. Plus, they are still expanding. Their model is to go after small-town America. Which is different than going after low-income areas. Some of those stores have decent sized grocery sections filling a void where grocery stores are missing.

[TurcoLoco]

Understandable with all the crazy prices on everything, how could they sell anything for 99 cents?

They have been selling things way above $1 mark for years plus the competition plus online shopping.
It was only a matter of time!

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by TurcoLoco

Understandable with all the crazy prices on everything, how could they sell anything for 99 cents?

They have been selling things way above $1 mark for years plus the competition plus online shopping.
It was only a matter of time!

I did not mind when 99 Only raised their prices. That was inevitable. What I did not appreciate was the fact that prices were NEVER clearly marked. I would select an item that is marked at 99c on the shelf and the item would ring up up as $2.49. If I had 20 items, at least five would be at an incorrect price.

It became too much of a hassle to shop there.

[TurcoLoco]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

I did not mind when 99 Only raised their prices. That was inevitable. What I did not appreciate was the fact that prices were NEVER clearly marked. I would select an item that is marked at 99c on the shelf and the item would ring up up as $2.49. If I had 20 items, at least five would be at an incorrect price.

It became too much of a hassle to shop there.

If the item was clearly marked as 99c then aren't they supposed to honor the marked price?
I thought there was some sort of a requirement like that because otherwise it could get them in legal trouble due to false advertisement, no?

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by TurcoLoco

If the item was clearly marked as 99c then aren't they supposed to honor the marked price?
I thought there was some sort of a requirement like that because otherwise it could get them in legal trouble due to false advertisement, no?

He got his price but had to constantly micro-manage them. Like Safeway does when they have a digital coupon or sale item. 1/3 of the time with 20 items of less, I have to go from checkout directly to the customer service line to have my receipt corrected to get their sale. Whoever loads Safeway's promo prices into the system is an idiot. Especially, on the 1st day of their weekly sale.

[locolobo13]

Making way for the new Five & Dime. $5-$10 that is.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by locolobo13

Making way for the new Five & Dime. $5-$10 that is.

Already exists at tbe five limit. Have you been to a Five Below?