We had trouble keeping the shelves stocked,” the younger Gold said. People lined up outside to take advantage of 99 cent television sets and other bargains Gold had on offer. From day one, the store was a huge success, his son Howard Gold recalled. He’d noticed that items priced 99 cents flew off the shelves, but those priced 96 cents or a dollar didn’t sell so well, his son-in-law noted.Īn avid bargain hunter, Gold had honed his talent for finding excellent deals on merchandise. He’d been pondering the idea for about 20 years while running the family liquor store business in L.A.’s Grand Central Market, as well as a wholesale company, his son-in-law and former company CEO Eric Schiffer said. He moved to Los Angeles in 1945 with his family and attended Los Angeles High School and, briefly, Los Angeles City College.Ī late-blooming business tycoon, Gold opened the first 99 Cents Only Store in Los Angeles in 1982, when he was 50 years old. … He was a wonderful, wonderful man.”īorn to Russian-immigrant parents in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 5, 1932, Gold grew up working at his parents’ general store.

“He always thought about everybody else except himself. That was the most beautiful thing about him,” said Jose Gomez, who worked for Gold for more than three decades, starting as a store clerk and moving up to vice president of retail.

“He was the most humble person that you could ever imagine, but he was one of the wealthiest men in America. He died of an apparent heart attack, family members said. Instead, he drove an old car, wore inexpensive clothes, lived in the same middle-class house for nearly 50 years and cherished walks on the beach with his wife, Sherry, and attending his grandchildren’s sporting games. Gold, who died on April 22 at 80, at his home in Los Angeles’ Carthay Circle neighborhood, shunned the kind of flashy lifestyle that often accompanies wealth, those who knew him said. He founded a retail empire that grew to be worth about $1.6 billion, but Dave Gold, the man behind the popular 99 Cents Only Stores, lived a simple life focused on kindness to others, friends and family told the Journal.

Walk the moon album sale 99 cents