99 Cents Only reports Q1 sales growth

CITY OF COMMERCE, Calif. — 99 Cents Only Stores reported total sales of $368.3 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 ended July 2. This represents an increase of 6.3% over total sales of $346.5 million for the same quarter last year.

Eric Schiffer, 99 Cents Only CEO, commented, "In the first quarter, we are pleased to report that we achieved 5.9% same-store sales growth for the full quarter and 2.7% same-store sales growth for the last ten weeks of the quarter starting with Easter Sunday. These sales results are essentially in line with our expectations for the quarter and our guidance for low single-digit growth for the fiscal year and we believe underscore the strength of our business model and our ability to attract new customers in a challenging economic environment."

The company's overall same-store sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 increased 5.9%.

In fiscal 2011, the Easter holiday fell on April 4, 2010 compared to April 24 this year. As a result, the first quarter same-store-sales calculation for the first quarter of fiscal 2012, starting on April 3 and ending on July 2, 2011, includes the three weeks prior to Easter and is being compared with a 13-week period of fiscal 2011 which started on April 4, 2010 and ended on July 3, 2010 and therefore did not include any Easter sales effect, the company reported.

In fiscal 2012, the company currently plans to open 16 new stores, which is a store growth rate of approximately 6%.