The 99 Cents Only Store & the Real Reason You Love It

There is one glaringly obvious reason to shop at the 99 Cents Only Store- everything is just 99 cents. That's cheap for most things. Of course, 99 cents is also a bit expensive for some items. If you're paying 99 cents for a banana, you're getting ripped off. But if you're paying 99 cents for a doormat, that's a really great deal.

This may seem like enough reason to shop at the 99 Cents Only Store, but it is actually only one of two reasons that you are probably drawn to shop there. The second reason is not nearly as obvious as the first because it has to do with a rather subtle psychological concept.

When arriving at the 99 Cents Only Store, you anticipate the shopping experience differently than you would if you were heading into a grocery store or a department store. Why? What is the difference? It isn't the price. At least it's not only the price. The difference is predictability. The difference is surprise.

At the 99 Cents Only Store, you don't know what you'll find. The potential for surprise is far, far greater at a 99 Cents Only Store than it is at almost any other store. You might find a coil of rope one week and a Halloween Costume the next, even though it's Thanksgiving.

This is true, in part, because the 99 Cents Only Store straddles categories. It is not a department store. It is not a grocery store. It is not a stationary store or a garden supply store or a children's goods store. It is something else.

As odd as it may seem, we all have a fairly good idea of what you can buy at a grocery store that you can't buy at Kohl's and what you can buy at Kohl's that you can't buy at a grocery store. It's not like we're taking stock in our heads, but we understand the categories that these stores fit into and what those categories imply.

You can go to Kohl's for a shower curtain, but you can't go there for shampoo or shower cleaner. You have to go to the grocery store for those products, but you can't buy a shower curtain at the grocery store. In your heart of hearts you understand this difference in product selection without even needing to think about it.

The 99 Cents Only Store defies categorization. Marshall's and TJ Maxx are similar in the way that you can't quite anticipate what you will find, but at those discount stores the surprise is less subtle.

The 99 Cents Only Store woos you with predictability. It draws you in with the simple, straight-forward guarantee of its name. In a way you have a perfect confidence and a completely accurate prediction as to what you will find at the 99 Cents Only Store - stuff for less than a dollar.

Yet despite the predictability that comes with the name, because the store offers all kinds of products, you always walk into the 99 Cent Store with a question in mind: What can I get for 99 cents?

And, really, you never know the answer until you go inside. That's why it's so much fun.

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