UPDATE: 99-Cent Only Stores Reports +8.5% Same-Store Sales; Q3 Sales of $403.9 Million vs $393M Est

99-Cent Only Stores® (NYSE: NDN) today reports total sales of $403.9 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 ended December 31, 2011. This represents an increase of 10.6% over total sales of $365.4 million for the same quarter last year. The Company's total retail sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 were $393.3 million, compared to $354.1 million for the same quarter last year. The Company's overall same-store sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 increased 8.5%. The number of same-store-sales transactions increased 5.6% and the average transaction size increased to $9.86 from $9.59. Eric Schiffer, CEO, commented, "We are pleased to report that we achieved 8.5% same-store sales growth in the third quarter, which was above our expected range of mid-single digit comparable sales." For the first three quarters of fiscal 2012, total sales were $1,135.3 million, up 8.6%, versus $1,045.4 million in the first three quarters of the prior fiscal year. The Company's overall retail sales in the first three quarters of fiscal 2012 were $1,103.0 million, up 8.8% compared to $1,013.9 million in the first three quarters of the prior fiscal year. Same-store sales for the first three quarters of fiscal 2012 increased 7.1% compared to the same period in the prior fiscal year. During the third quarter of fiscal 2012, the Company opened one store in California, two in Arizona and one in Texas. The gross and saleable retail square footage at the end of the third quarter were 6.19 million and 4.87 million, respectively. This represents an increase of 4.0% and 4.1% of gross and saleable square footage, respectively, based on 292 stores.