Sunrise 99 Cent Store, located at 40-08 Queens Blvd. March 11, 2020. The store has been accused on social media of selling items at inflated prices Photo: Michael Dorgan; Sunnyside Post.
March 11, 2020, By Michael Dorgan
A Sunnyside discount store has come under fire on social media for allegedly selling hand sanitizer products at inflated prices.
A Facebook post, which went up on the “Lost Sunnyside Woodside LIC and community” page, said that Sunrise 99 Cent Store, located at 40-08 Queens Blvd, was selling 32-ounce bottles of Purell hand sanitizer for $45. A photo of the bottle accompanied the post.
The posting was shared 14 times and included almost 40 comments. Comments included statements like, “gougers,” “close them down,” and “boycott this s**thole.”
A screenshot from the “Lost Sunnyside Woodside LIC and community” Facebook page.
The Sunnyside Post discovered this morning that the store was no longer selling the Purell bottles referred to in the Facebook post, which are in fact 33.8 fluid ounce in size.
However, the owner did say that “one or two [33.8 fluid ounce Purell] bottles” were available for purchase yesterday for $40.
The owner, who didn’t disclose her full name, said she was now using the 33.8 fluid ounce Purell bottles for her own personal use. She had a bottle beside her that did not have a price tag on it and was not visible to customers.
She denied selling the item at inflated prices and said she had all the invoices and the supplier’s information to prove it.
The owner said she is only making a small profit on the item and that “some people are just trying to make a story.”
The store was selling 8 fluid ounce bottles this morning for $8 and 30 fluid ounce bottles for $20.00.
Hand sanitizer bottles on display inside Sunrise 99 Cent Store, located at 45-40 Queens Blvd. March 11, 2020. The store has been accused on social media of selling items at inflated prices Photo: Michael Dorgan; Sunnyside Post.
The owner allowed the Sunnyside Post to take pictures of the bottles for comparative purposes– including the Purell bottle that is no longer for sale.
Section 396-R of the New York General Business Law, prohibits the sale of goods necessary for the health of consumers at excessive prices during any abnormal disruption of the market.
The Facebook post also alleged that the store was selling face masks for $50 a box. There were no face mask boxes on display this morning, however, there were packs of 10 loose face masks being sold in zipper seal bags for $10 a pack.
The City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) has made it illegal for retailers to sell medical face masks at drastically increased prices after the masks have become in high demand over fears of the coronavirus spreading.
New York Attorney General Letitia James ordered an Astoria supermarket to cease and desist charging customer’s excessive prices for disinfectant spray. James ordered two stores—one in Manhattan and the other the Astoria supermarket—to stop profiting from people’s fear of the Coronavirus.
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22 Comments
If supply is low and you’re worried about people raiding the shelves, then the best solution to ensure that everyone has access to *some* hand sanitizer is to raise prices. This is the most basic principle of economics, we’re just so used to abundance in this country that people assume all the products they have access to come from unicorn farts.
That “99 cent” store has always gouged its customers and has never sold anything for “99cent” and their policy of taking customers bags is atrocious, if they don’t trust their customers how can we know we can “trust”? The “manager” who is behind the counter always says the same thing and makes up the most ridiculous excuses no to refund your money, they should have their license pulled for stealing from its customers.
The Pharmacy at 87-10 Northern Blvd is Selling Hand Sanitizer Purell 12oz at $20 and Mask at $5 each from their own Mask Box that they used daily…!
They are doing the exact same thing in the 99 cents store on the corner of 49th street and Roosevelt avenue. “$18.99” plus tax and 4 masks for $10. And last week they were selling the masks for $5 each. In case the DCWP is reading and actually controlling any of these stores.
99 cents store on 120-20 Queens Blvd is selling hand sanitizers for $40
I’ll Never buy anything in this Store? Price Gouging is a Crime! Besides how many 99 cent Stores are there in Sunnyside/Woodside? Glad they got Caught!! I’m personally Boycotting this Store!
This store should be fined and people should shop at other locations. This is community in which we should come together in a crisis, not take advantage. When this all subsides, we will remember those who knowingly did wrong.
Did someone report them? I would so they can get fined.
Add a few drops of Clorox,peroxide, alcohol to the water & you don’t need to scrounge around for,Purrel etc. I.e. not too much or too often ……alternate
I was there yesterday and bought some cleaning supplies. There was definitely at least 3 bottles of hand sanitzer on the register counter for $45.
They don’t care about the community they just care about their money. I’m not buying anything there!
I’m so happy the store under fire. The store manager Very aggressive I did had some problem with him About the overprice Or return
so why isn’t someone reporting this just like the others
So they should just pull them off the shelves. Then nobody will have any.
Same thing at the place on QB next to Maggie May bar. And the Sunnyside Garden Market on Skillman and 46.
the real question is why is that bottle of Purell not 99 cents?!
The store sign shows ’99 c & Up’ , Duh.
Cut back on the Trump Cheetos yo.
Well on thing I’m happy about is the fact that there is a crackdown happening. People should not be profiting off of the situation.
Can’t find it anywhere else.
Agree. I will never shop at this place after reading that.
Sick of 99 cent stores in Sunnyside. How many do we need? As if there’s not enough plastics and low quality goods in the world!
Never buy this sort of item from these stores as they can be counterfeit so you don’t know exactly what’s in them or that they are safe.