Night Spent Outside Ends in 99-Cent TVs

They endured a drive-by water balloon attack and a night spent outside, but nine people went home with 19-inch televisions Thursday after paying only 99 cents.

It was all part of a promotion by a new store known for selling merchandise for less money than the cost of a cup of coffee. The first nine people inside the discount store on Arneill Road could buy a TV for 99 cents.

First in was Mona Marin, 40, of Camarillo. She arrived in line at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Marin said the ordeal seemed well worth the wait when the doors opened at 9 a.m. Thursday and a cool rush of air began drying contestants’ faces.

Store spokesman Henry Miller called Marin inside the store.

“Here’s Mona Marin,” he yelled out to the crowd.

Diana Schmidt, a 30-year-old mother of three, accepted a water balloon in the face after a carload of teenagers threw them at the waiting crowd in exchange for a much-needed television set for her room.

“We’re moving into a new house, and the set we have in our bedroom is broken,” she said. “It’s old, one of those ones that you turn on and off by pulling on a knob.”