You know, if there is one thing that this Bidenomics-plagued country could use more of, it's discount stores. It's always nice to have options and not have to deal with a loan officer when one wants to buy laundry detergent. Because we are living in a "We Can't Have Nice Things" age, options like that are dwindling.
Just last month, my friend Stephen Green reported this:
Dollar Tree can't keep up with Bidenflation, changing consumer habits, and competition from other discount retailers — and will close nearly 1,000 of its Family Dollar locations around the country. The company announced the move this week following disappointing quarterly results.
Well, the "competition from other discount retailers" category is about to thin out.
SAN DIEGO — One of America’s favorite bargain destinations, 99 Cents Only, is going out of business.
The discount store announced Thursday that they will close all 371 store locations in California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas with liquidation sales set to start on Friday.
"This was an extremely difficult decision and is not the outcome we expected or hoped to achieve," said Mike Simoncic, Interim Chief Executive Officer of 99 Cents Only Store. "Unfortunately, the last several years have presented significant and lasting challenges in the retail environment.”
Of course, COVID was cited as a factor in the demise of the company, as well as "other economic factors."
Hmmm... I wonder what those might be.
It's true that brick-and-mortar retail has been under siege from online competition for a long time. I still like to blame everything on the Biden economy, though. Bidenomics may not have been the final nail in the coffin of 99 Cents Only, but there is no alternative universe in which it would have helped.
Relevant: Paul Krugman — People Who Don't Love Biden's Economy Just Haven't 'Done Their Homework'
Honestly, I didn't know that 99 Cents Only wasn't a national chain. The stores have been a fixture here in the Southwest for so long that I just assumed they were everywhere.
I know a lot of people who make plenty of money and still shop at discount stores for the basics. When I first moved back to Tucson, I went to one to load up on cleaning supplies, lightbulbs, and the like. My best friend's wife swears by them.
Of course, discount stores are very popular with lower-income people. They're the ones who are really taking a hit with the likes of Family Dollar and 99 Cents Only closing down.
We still hear a lot about "long COVID." There is also an economic "long COVID" affecting people. It will no doubt take years to crunch the numbers and see how much long-term damage was done by the hysterical overreaction to the pandemic. We know about the businesses that were shuttered permanently during the lockdowns. How many more businesses made it through that but were so financially weakened that they never could make full recoveries? It's depressing to think about.
Remember, though: according to Team Biden and all the major mainstream media outlets, everything's fine.
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