GARDEN GROVE : Store Opening Is Well Worth Wait for Some

Hell hath no fury like a bargain-hunter scorned--but a hard-won deal can seem heaven-sent.

Just ask the nine people who camped out in front of the new 99 Cents Only Store in Garden Grove from Wednesday to Friday. They brought sleeping bags, ice chests--even a television and VCR--and waited for the grand opening of the store at 9 a.m. Friday, when the first nine people in line could buy a new 19-inch color TV for, you guessed it, 99 cents.

“It was a blast,” said Robert Doss, 38, of Stanton, the ninth person in line, though he admitted he was too tired to open the television’s box when he got home.

Erwin Vysma, 62, a retired aerospace engineer from Westminster, agreed. Vysma called his wife to tell her he would be camping outside the store for a couple of days.

Those who arrived early signed in and waited on the concrete sidewalk for up to 48 hours, taking only 15-minute breaks to use the bathroom or get food.

By Thursday, the first nine had staked their claim in line and another nine were behind them waiting to purchase the second sale item, a 99-cent microwave oven.

The next 99 people, who arrived in the wee hours of Friday morning, were offered portable radios for 99 cents.

In all, store officials estimated that 2,000 people showed up to take advantage of the bargains.

A few were not pleased. One woman started a petition, charging the store should have started counting at midnight Friday.

“The ad says the first nine people on Friday the 13th,” said Ginger Surratt, 21, of Huntington Beach, who arrived at 4:30 a.m. “It doesn’t say come early and camp out.”

After collecting 110 signatures, Surratt conceded her petition drive was perhaps a tad excessive. “I hadn’t slept,” she said. “I was a little out of my mind with boredom.”