LA's 99 Cents Store Gallery
An abandoned 99 Cents Only store in Los Angeles has been transformed into a temporary art gallery for one week, featuring contemporary works and installations. The pop-up space demonstrates adaptive reuse of retail spaces and LA's commitment to supporting local artists in unexpected urban settings.
- The pop-up art exhibition, titled "99CENT," is spearheaded by San Francisco-based artist Barry McGee in collaboration with The Hole and Jeffrey Deitch Gallery. It features works by over 100 artists, including notable local artist Gary Baseman, known for illustrating the board game Cranium. - The exhibition runs through March 1, coinciding with Frieze Week, a major event in the Los Angeles art calendar. The installation is located at 6121 Wilshire Boulevard, just a block away from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). - The gallery retains many of the original store's features, such as the scuffed linoleum floors, fluorescent lighting, and numbered aisle signs, creating a unique "art flea market" environment. Artworks are displayed on old shelving units and in shopping carts, with purchases being "checked out" at the original registers. - This event is part of a larger trend of converting defunct retail spaces into creative venues; another nearby pop-up organized by Grant Tyler has taken over a former Sizzler restaurant. - The 99 Cents Only store chain, a Southern California institution for 42 years, announced in April 2024 that it was closing all 371 of its locations and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. - The company cited several reasons for its closure, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, shifting consumer demand, inflation, and inventory loss due to theft. The closure affected approximately 14,000 employees across California, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada.
