(Fox News) California shoppers are already feeling the loss from yet another wave of massive store closures.
The company behind 99 Cents Only Stores announced earlier this month that it would be closing approximately 371 shops across California, Nevada, Texas and Arizona with some beginning as early as Apr. 5.
Most of these shutdowns, about 265 stores, come from the Golden State where the company was originally founded in 1982. Since then, the company’s headquarters has been based in Commerce, California.
With another franchise announcing massive closures in California, some shoppers are pointing fingers at their governor.
California shoppers blamed rising prices and Newsom’s minimum wage policies for 99 Cent Only stores closing. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“I blame [Gavin] Newsom,” Rick Juarez, 53, told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. “Too many taxes, too high the minimum wage. These companies just can’t compete, and so they have to close. And it’s poor people like us who end up suffering.”
Juarez told the LA Times that he had been coming to the Main Street location for “at least” 20 years and returned there to stock up on batteries before it was too late.
Ahead of the closures, several stores began holding “everything must go” sales, offering various discounts. Local shoppers quickly flocked to their shops to also stock up on affordable items before it was too late.
“I could buy toys for my younger kids, my older kids could get pens for school, and I could do groceries for all of us,” Altagracia Nuñez told the LA Times in Spanish. “And the prices, of course.”
“Well, everything is more expensive nowadays, so I guess this had to end,” she added with a weak laugh.
