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The End of an Era: 99 Cents Only Closes Every Store

1 min read

99 Cents Only Stores is closing all its locations.

Foot traffic never fully bounced back after COVID. You can see it clearly in the chart. That, coupled with inflation and rising theft, seems to have been the final straw.

Line chart of nationwide foot traffic at 99 Cents Only Stores from 2017 to 2023, falling sharply in early 2020 and staying low
99 Cents Only Stores, nationwide foot traffic, % change from baseline

The open question is whether other discount stores fill the void, and which retailers still haven’t recovered from COVID.

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Wayne Williams
Written by Wayne

VP of Retail Marketing at Lewis Retail Centers. 25 years leading marketing and sales across commercial real estate, live sports, and entrepreneurship.

More about me

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