Value still resonates at 99 Cents Only

CITY OF COMMERCE, Calif. — Sales at 99 Cents Only Stores rose 10.6% to $403.9 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 over sales of $365.4 milllion for the same quarter last year.

The company's overall same-store sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 increased 8.5%. The number of same-store-sales transactions increased 5.6% and the average transaction size increased to $9.86 from $9.59.

99 Cents Only CEO Eric Schiffer said, "We are pleased to report that we achieved 8.5% same-store sales growth in the third quarter, which was above our expected range of mid-single-digit comparable sales."

During the third quarter of fiscal 2012, the company opened one store in California, two in Arizona and one in Texas. The gross and saleable retail square footage at the end of the third quarter were 6.19 million and 4.87 million, respectively. This represents an increase of 4% and 4.1% of gross and saleable square footage, respectively, based on 292 stores.