“It is always important to know when something has reached its end.
Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn't matter
what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in
life that are over.”
―
It's the end of yet another era. The 99 Cents store has decided to close all of it's stores nationwide. I shopped there, especially when I lived in the Bay Area, for years. Truth is, I could get odd ball stuff that I liked, in affordable amounts and prices. Before hubby retired, he would be furloughed from time to time, the last furlough took three days out of his paycheck per month, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it makes a dent. We had some very lean months, the balance was not fun, but the 99 Cents store was a big help. On a different note, they carried some awesome stuff that was cool to come across. One example was Zhu Zhu pets. They were a brand of robotic pets (hamsters) that talk and move about when you pressed a button on their back. Dylan had a favorite. Pinky. He loved that toy completely. Sometimes, because he didn't quite understand how it worked, I would catch him picking it up and throwing it across the floor to get it to go. It was absolutely delightful! I couldn't help but stop whatever I was doing to play with him. The interaction meant a lot to both of us.
We bought about 8 of them, and I gave them to Dylan on birthdays and Christmas. He enjoyed all of them, but he always came back to Pinky. One day, Pinky broke, and he dragged him over to me to fix, unfortunately there was nothing I could do. Sigh. My heart kinda broke for him, but the play went on with the other pets.
So I am thinking about this and other memories that came by way of the 99 Cents store. When I think of how many stores that have shut down, just since I moved to the Central Valley, it makes my head spin. Toys R Us and Pier One just to name a couple of examples, and I understand Dollar Tree may close as well. Macy's hasn't closed completely, but it's closing it's Union Square store and that saddens me. San Francisco doesn't need another financial hit. Beginning in 2008, 99 Cents store began raising their prices and continued to do so until the pandemic began, stores like the 99 Cents store have raised their prices to the point you couldn't call it the 99 Cents store with a straight face. I think that was a big part of their undoing. The pandemic play a roll, and will get a big share of the blame, but I think raising their prices may have a lot to do with it too. It's really sad they didn't survive.
Thanks for the memories, 99 Cents Store!
No comments:
Post a Comment