Research shows that two out of three businesses normally collapse after two years of startup. This occurs because of various factors such as undercapitalization, dried up coffers and mismanagement. Those that survive this threshold period however are still not guaranteed of total success because any of the factors that cause collapse within two years of startup are still able to strike again. It is only through excellent management that transcends good leadership to prudent business decisions that can guarantee enterprise survivability. 99 Cents Only Stores is just one typical example of such a business that has its humble beginnings of a simple start up shop that has burgeoned into a profitable empire.

Another unique aspect of this enterprise design is its insistence throughout its existence on charging a single price for all its merchandise regardless of the commodity that is being sold. There are only a few exceptions to this pricing whereby some items have been sold at a further reduced price of less than 99 Cents Only Stores between 40 and 60 cents. Despite this backward variation in price, it is noteworthy that the management did not change their model to embrace a much larger supermarket chain design which is more profitable.

As much as running supermarkets may be more lucrative, it is observable that the management of 99 Cents Only Stores did not change their business model. Retaining the retail dollar model appears to be the ideology of the present CEO Eric Schiffer who joined the company in 1991 as a director. Eric Schiffer’s persistence on retaining the business model can be corroborated by business analysts view of the dollar retail types of business that have remained profitable even during harsh economic times. Their resilience is mainly attributed to their pricing model that is able to attract customers even in difficult economic times as well as having lots of cash flow to finance their operations. Despite difficult economic times that has been experienced in the United States and the whole world at large, the discount merchandise retail chain has managed to stay afloat and still managed to post impressive profits.

With a total capital base of $662 million, it has also made improvements and is still continuing to expand. At present it employs a more than 12,000 employees in more than 280 locations in four states.