Oxnard Store Makes Good Cents, Discount Chain Says

Don’t expect much change for your dollar when Oxnard’s newest store opens this week. Then again, a dollar may be all you’ll need.

The 99 Cents Only Stores chain, a 70-store retail operation based in Commerce, is scheduled to open its first Ventura County store Thursday. The 23,900-square-foot outlet, which will employ about 40 workers, will be located at North Ventura Road and Channel Islands Boulevard, the former site of a Ralphs supermarket.

Founded in 1982, the 99 Cents Only Stores have built a reputation for providing brand-name consumable products--including groceries, stationery, toys and housewares--for 99 cents apiece. The bulk of the chain--55 stores--is in Los Angeles County, with the rest distributed throughout Southern California. Oxnard is the northernmost location.

“We’ve wanted to get into Ventura County for a long time,” said Eric Schiffer, senior vice president of the chain. “We think this is a great area for our stores. We knew we were going, we just wanted to find the right location . . . and I’m sure this is not going to be our last store in Ventura County. There will probably be quite a few.”

Since the 99 Cents Only Stores went public in 1996, the company has nearly doubled its number of outlets.

“When we first opened stores, we opened in low-income, blue-collar, ethnic neighborhoods. Then we opened on Wilshire Boulevard near Beverly Hills in 1994, and that became the company’s best store,” Schiffer said.

“We found out that if we open a store in a middle-class neighborhood we will get middle-class and lower-income customers,” he said. “But if we open in low-income neighborhoods, we will get the customers from that neighborhood, but no middle-class [shoppers].”

Schiffer said the key to the company’s success is to get people to enter the store for the first time.

“They are naturally skeptical; people are taught you get what you pay for,” he said.

“But we are able to offer good, low prices because we’re buying a huge amount of one product,” he said. “We go to major manufacturers and say, ‘We want to focus on this particular brand, this particular size,’ and we buy a ton of it.”

The 99 Cents Only Stores reported sales of $323 million for 1998.