Discount chain 99 Cents Only Stores is closing all of its 371 stores and liquidating all its merchandise, including fixtures and furnishings, beginning on Monday. The company tapped Hilco Real Estate for the disposition of its leased and owned locations.

The majority of the chain's locations are in its home state of California, but it also has a presence in Texas, Arizona and Nevada.

The company considered other options, including bankruptcy, as it struggled with growing real estate costs and cash-flow issues, but ultimately decided winding down was the best way to maximize its remaining assets.

“The last several years have presented significant and lasting challenges in the retail environment, including the unprecedented impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, shifting consumer demand, rising levels of shrink, persistent inflationary pressures and other macroeconomic headwinds,” interim CEO Mike Simoncic said in a statement.

The closure is the latest bump in the road for the dollar store sector. In March, Dollar Tree reported a net loss of about $1.7B for its most recent fiscal quarter and said that it will close about 1,000 stores in the first half of 2024. That includes about 600 of its Family Dollar locations.

The discounter will also close another 370 Family Dollar locations, plus about 30 Dollar Tree stores, as their leases expire in the coming years.

By contrast, Dollar General, the largest of the dollar store chains, is planning to add about 800 stores this year.

One of the Dollar General's main advantages is that most of its stores are in rural areas where there is little competition, The Wall Street Journal reports.