99 Cents Only reconsiders Texas exit

CITY OF COMMERCE, Calif. 99 Cents Only Stores said it has decided to suspend its exit from the Texas market for up to six months to re-evaluate its Texas operations in light of a significant improvement in January sales results and the potential beneficial opportunities resulting from a recessionary economy. The company directed management to close approximately one third of its Texas stores by March 28, its fiscal year end.

On Jan. 31, following an evaluation of its company chairman Dave Gold’s offer to buy the Texas operations by a special committee of independent directors of 99 Cents' board, the board adopted the recommendation of the special committee to reject this offer. In the course of the board’s deliberations, the voard noted that same-store sales in Texas had increased at a rate of 8.6% during the four week period ended Jan. 24, compared to a rate of 0.8% during the five week period ended Dec. 27, 2008.

Eric Schiffer, CEO, said, “We will release our earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 on Wednesday, Feb. 4. I am pleased to report that we continue to make progress on our profit improvement plan in our non-Texas operations, and I look forward to providing an update on our performance and the matters discussed in this release on our earnings conference call.”