99 Cents Only Stores Company

Talk about a sudden markdown. Investors sent the highflying stock of 99 Cents Only Stores plunging 13% Thursday after the deep-discount chain posted second-quarter sales that, to some analysts, were a bit shy of expectations. The stock skidded $6.56 a share to $44.25 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, with more than 1 million shares changing hands. But the analysts also argued that the selling was exaggerated and they continued recommending the stock.

Other California company earnings, excluding one-time gains and charges unless noted: * Amgen Inc., the world's largest biotechnology company, said first-quarter earnings rose 32% as sales of its blockbuster anemia drug, Epogen, soared. Net income rose to $247 million, or 46 cents a share, from $187 million, or 35 cents, a year earlier. Results exceeded the 44-cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. Revenue rose 23%, to $745.4 million from $605.

99 Cents Only Stores said it plans to open a 26,000-square-foot store, its largest, in Anaheim on July 25, and an additional four to five stores during the remainder of the year.

Some people are going to great lengths to buy a new 19-inch color television for 99 cents. A group has been camping out since Sunday in front of the soon-to-open 99 Cent Store at Springdale Street and Edinger Avenue. "We look like a bunch of homeless people," said Therese Sliter of Garden Grove, who set up camp Monday to await the store's opening Thursday morning. The first nine customers in line will be able to buy a color TV for 99 cents.

Hell hath no fury like a bargain-hunter scorned--but a hard-won deal can seem heaven-sent. Just ask the nine people who camped out in front of the new 99 Cents Only Store in Garden Grove from Wednesday to Friday. They brought sleeping bags, ice chests--even a television and VCR--and waited for the grand opening of the store at 9 a.m. Friday, when the first nine people in line could buy a new 19-inch color TV for, you guessed it, 99 cents.

It was meant to be a joke. But the recession got the last laugh when more than 500 callers responded to an ad for a new bridal registry service offered by the 99 Cents Only Stores. Brides and their gift-hunting pals were invited to inquire about the registry's debut with a quick call to (213) LUCKY-99.

One day in 1984, when crowds poured into Los Angeles for the Summer Olympics, David Gold and Thomas Hale made a $185,000 buy that would launch their 99 Cents Only Stores into the mainstream and foreshadow the future of their quirky off-priced outlets. Gold and Hale, president and vice president of 99 Cents Only Stores, had bought 500,000 authentic Olympic souvenir hats at a special low price--37 cents each--days before the games commenced.