99 Cents Only to close all its stores; six are in valley

99 Cents Only Stores is closing all of its 371 locations, including the six in the Coachella Valley, as it fully winds downs its operations, the company announced Thursday.

With the help of Hilco Real Estate, the company is set to liquidate all of its merchandise, along with furnishing and equipment at its stores, starting this weekend.

"This was an extremely difficult decision and is not the outcome we expected or hoped to achieve," Mike Simoncic, the company's interim CEO, said in a prepared statement. “We deeply appreciate the dedicated employees, customers, partners, and communities who have collectively supported 99 Cents Only Stores for decades."

Simoncic, who is stepping down in place of a new “chief restructuring officer,” noted several “significant and lasting challenges” that recently hindered the retail stores' operations, including the COVID-19 pandemic, shifting consumer demands, rising levels of “shrink” and inflationary and macroeconomic pressures.

With its first store opening in Los Angeles in 1982, 99 Cents Only Stores have since spread across the American Southwest, with locations in California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada. The Coachella Valley has six stores, stretching from Palm Springs to Coachella.

The company's announcement Thursday also says its leadership did an extensive analysis of its options in search of a way to keep the businesses open.

“Following months of actively pursuing these alternatives, the company ultimately determined that an orderly wind-down was necessary and the best way to maximize the value of 99 Cents Only Stores' assets,” the announcement states.