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When Daniel Campos heard that the 99 Cents Only stores were shuttering all 371 locations late last week, a surprising wave of emotions hit him.
As the child of immigrants, Campos, a Los Angeles native, said the 99 Cents Store was “an institution” ― a place where you could get a dollar Hot Wheels toy or an ice cream bar while your parents stocked up on groceries, household cleaning items and chintzy decorations for family parties.
“For those of us that grew up in a low-income background, this place meant a lot to us,” Campos, the chief creative director at XXXDCD Clothing, told HuffPost. “As a kid, if your parents drove by it and stopped, you knew you were in for a treat.”
Because the inventory was always shifting in and out, there was a “treasure hunt” quality to visiting the store: One week you’d find off-brand Barbie dolls and Star Wars-branded “space punch,” the next, marked-down Halloween decorations and a hair cap with packaging that inexplicably featured Beyoncé. (Something tells us she didn’t license that one.)
Growing up, Campos usually beelined to the ice cream section before snatching up a bag of Hot Cheetos. As an adult, he valued the store for its healthier options: You could be dead broke but never feel like it because the 99 Cents Store kept you well-fed with Yukon Gold potatoes, tortillas, milk, rice, fresh produce (grapes, avocados, lettuce and bell peppers) and canned ones, too.
As columnist Gustavo Arellano wrote in the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, “Even though it was a multibillion-dollar company, 99 Cents Only operated under a premise straight from the Great Depression: a fair shake for everyone who entered.”
That’s what Campos loves ― or loved, as it were ― about the store, too.
“They have vegetables, eggs, milk and so many of the name brand products you’d find at a regular grocery store,” he said. “For me, it turned into a nostalgia of remembering where I would get snacks too, wow, this is where I can get essentials at a much lower price.”
The discount chain, which operates in California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas, made the closure announcement on Friday, citing COVID setbacks, inflation, and product theft.
The stores, which first opened their doors in 1982, began liquidation sales on Friday. Social media, TikTok in particular, is full of videos of penny-pinchers scouring the aisles for one last haul.
The 99 Cents Store news comes on the heels of an announcement that nearly 600 Family Dollar locations are set to close this year, while 400 more stores under the Family Dollar and Dollar Tree banners are expected to close in the next few years as their leases expire.
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