“Want to go shopping?” I would ask a friend, and we both knew that included a visit to the neighborhood 99¢ Only Store. We might spend the day shopping at discount retailers, or fashionable clothing boutiques, upscale or discount grocery chains, but somewhere on our journey there would be a trip to “99.”
The “99” was always fun as we found good deals on household products, canned goods, fruits, and vegetables. For budget-conscious shoppers, especially those lacking extra dollars in their wallets because of Bidenflation, the 99¢ Only Store and other dollar stores often meant the difference between buying or passing on a product.
Dollar stores are the perfect place for average Americans to understand how Bidenomics has failed easily. A 99-cent item in December 2020, Donald Trump’s last full month in office, now sells for $1.49. You don’t have to be a mathematician or economist to calculate that after three-and-a-half years of Joe “Big Guy” Biden’s ruinous economic policies, that is a whopping 50 percent increase!
Image: A 99¢ Only Store in Las Vegas by TaurusEmerald. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Ah, but aren’t government agencies reporting a consumer price index of around 3.2 percent? They can announce whatever they want, but those who do the weekly shopping know those numbers aren’t accurate.
History of single-price stores
Headquartered in Commerce, California, there are 99¢ Only Stores in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Texas. Founder Dave Gold pioneered the single-price retail concept in 1982.
However, single-price selling has been around for a long time. The concept of offering an array of merchandise at uniform prices started more than 145 years ago. It’s a success story that could only happen in America, where our constitutional republic and free-market capitalist system offer people with humble beginnings immense opportunities to achieve their goals.
In 1879, Frank W. Woolworth opened a store in Utica, New York, that only offered items at five or 10 cents. The store failed. It’s a good thing Woolworth didn’t give up. He quickly opened the same type of store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and it was an immediate success.
A hurtful incident in his youth made Woolworth determined to offer discounted items and treat every customer with respect.
In a formative moment as a child, Frank traveled into Watertown with his brother to find a birthday present for their mother. The siblings had scraped together fifty cents for the gift. They spotted a silk headscarf in the window of a department store and went in to pay. They were very hurt when the sales staff teased them for paying in loose change, sneering that next year they might raise enough for a proper gift. Frank walked out and bought a similar item in another shop where the staff were more polite. In later life he recalled the event, and how he had told to his brother that one day people would be able to buy five or even ten items for fifty cents, and shops would give helpful and friendly service to everyone, both rich and poor.
When Woolworth passed away in 1919, the New York Times obituary said that “he made his money not by selling a little for a lot, but by selling a lot for a little.” The Woolworth chain closed its last store in 1997.
Dollar stores today
High rents and theft are a key reason many dollar stores are closing in medium and large cities. However, dollar stores in rural locations are thriving. Dollar General just opened its 20,000th store in Alice, Texas, with plans to open 800 more this year! By focusing on rural locations, they have less competition, lower real estate expenses, and less chance of retail theft. (At least not at levels seen in larger cities where culprits walk in, shove items into bags, and walk out knowing there’s little chance they will be arrested and/or prosecuted.)
Who knows how long the other dollar chains will last? Family Dollar, whose parent is Chesapeake, Virginia-based Dollar Tree, Inc., announced it will close 600 Family Dollar and Dollar Tree stores.
The Dollar Tree empire employs nearly 212,000 employees (retail staff, distribution center, and store support). How many will be affected by the announced Family Dollar and Dollar Tree closures?
As to the 99¢ Only Stores closures, news reports have focused on disappointed customers. If you are lining up to buy discounted items at the “99” during its final weeks of operation, be extra kind to the hardworking employees. Staff have told media outlets that they received the required 60-day notice but will not receive any severance.
Maybe once the stores close, all the “99” employees should head down to Mexico. Wearing a sombrero, they could waltz back across Biden’s Open Border. Once on American soil, they can tell border patrol agents they have 99 reasons for seeking asylum in the United States. At that point, it’s possible a Democrat party representative will tell them (in Spanish) about 99 freebies they can receive as the Biden administration gives illegal alien invaders free medical, free housing, free education, free food, free iPhones, to list a few.
These freebies were never given to hardworking but low-paid 99¢ Only Store employees or America’s heroic but now homeless veterans.
Add the death of dollar stores to the list of Biden failures
The death of the “99” and other dollar stores can be added to Joe “Big Guy” Biden’s growing list of “accomplishments”:
- Concern for Ukraine’s borders, not America’s borders.
- Rampant violent crimes (many committed by illegal aliens) that injure or kill innocent Americans.
- A “defund the police” mentality that is reducing police forces in major cities.
- Giving squatters more rights than homeowners.
- Incentivizing an illegal alien invasion using an array of freebies.
- Allowing fentanyl, other toxic drugs, and human trafficking to come through the porous border.
- Sky-high inflation (20+ percent last three years).
- Multiple international fiascos: disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, Russia invading Ukraine, and Hamas attacking Israel.
- Ongoing support for Hamas, a terrorist group which has as its goal destroying Israel and killing Jews and Christians.
- Making enemy nations Iran and China rich.
- Record-breaking high gas prices.
- Destroying America’s energy independence.
- Pushing electric vehicles when the infrastructure cannot support them.
- Promoting failed solar panels and wind farms that kill animals and can’t provide the promised energy.
- Ignoring SCOTUS decisions (i.e., paying off student debt).
- Embracing the mentally ill trans agenda.
- Engaging in lawfare against members of the opposing political party.
- Giving us a two-tiered justice system.
That’s just a few of Joe Biden’s Democrat “successes.” Dollar store closings are number 99 on the list.
Robin M. Itzler is a regular contributor to American Thinker. She can be reached at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com.
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