Eleven of Orange County’s 99 Cents stores have been taken over by another discount retailer, Dollar Tree Stores.
99 Cents Only Stores LLC said on April 4 that it would liquidate its operations. At the time, the company counted over 370 “extreme value” retail stores in California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas.
The liquidation announcement, and Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, comes a little more than a year after the company planned to relocate its headquarters from the City of Commerce to Tustin’s Flight office campus.
99 Cents’ overall base of OC retail locations totals nearly 400,000 square feet across more than 20 leased and owned stores, according to data from real estate market tracker CoStar Group Inc.
99 Cents officials said in court filings that 32 prospective buyers were contacted in recent months, including 20 prospective strategic buyers and 12 private equity companies.
Dollar Tree bid on 112 99 Cents stores in total, according to real estate firm Retail Specialists. The 11 stores in OC include Brea, Cypress, Garden Grove, three in Huntington Beach, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana and two in Tustin.
All are subject to final approvals or being outbid, Executive Vice President Bill Read, of Retail Specialists, posted on LinkedIn.
Dollar Tree has signed new leases for at least five stores in OC, according to data from CoStar.
