Party City is going out of business today, apparently, shuttering all stores in the next month or so.
We got many of our son’s birthday balloons there, not to mention most of our disposible party ware and plastic serving pieces for pot lucks etc. We didn’t go there often anymore but it was there for exactly what we needed on many occasions. Sorry I couldn’t help them stay in business!
There was both a Party City and a Party Depot near us when my kids were growing up. I shopped there a lot, not only for parties, but sometimes for school events, scouts, etc. I used to buy balloons and rent helium tanks for balloon arches.
Same here! Lots of trips to that store when kids were young! I guess Amazon’s Chinese sellers put them out of business. Anything party related can be found on Amazon! And helium prices are through the roof (plus there were shortages so rationing for MRI and NMR machines was implemented at one point).
We used to shop at Party City a lot when the kids were young. Not so much in recent years. It does make me sad that another brick and motar store is closing.
I’ll pop by the local store after Xmas and see if they have anything worth stocking up. Unless they’ve already closed down by then.
My concern is that the employees were not warned of the impending closures. Had they known that they would be out of a job effective December 20th, they may have made different choices regarding their holiday purchases. From CNN:
*CEO Barry Litwin told corporate employees Friday in a meeting viewed by CNN that Party City is “winding down” operations immediately and that today will be their last day of employment. Staff were told they will not receive severance pay, and they were told their benefits would end as the company goes out of business.
“That is without question the most difficult message that I’ve ever had to deliver,” Litwin said at the meeting, which was held on a video conference call.*
Hmmm, wonder if Litwin gets a severance package (bet that’s a big of course he does.).
Litwin was on the job 4 months. I hope not.
Absolute $4i7!
Sounds like Litwin did his job. By hiding the closure, he was able to keep a full staff to make as much money as possible from holiday sales. Then poof, get rid of all salary and benefits just like that.
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) protects workers, their families, and communities by requiring employers with 100 or more employees (generally not counting those who have worked less than six months in the last 12 months and those who work an average of less than 20 hours a week) to provide at least 60 calendar days advance written notice of a plant closing and mass layoff affecting 50 or more employees at a single site of employment. WARN makes certain exceptions to the requirements when layoffs occur due to unforeseeable business circumstances, faltering companies, and natural disasters. Advance notice gives workers and their families some transition time to adjust to the prospective loss of employment, to seek and obtain other jobs, and if necessary, to enter skill training or retraining that will allow these workers to compete successfully in the job market. Regular federal, state, local, and federally-recognized Indian Tribal government entities that provide public services are not covered. … Employees entitled to notice under WARN include managers and supervisors, as well as hourly and salaried workers. WARN requires that notice also be given to employees’ representatives, the local chief elected official, and the state dislocated worker unit.
I just noticed I replied directly to oldmom - meant as a reply to the thread!
I worked on a case a long time ago where WARN was involved - the required notices weren’t provided. I don’t think it would come into play here - I believe it is specific to manufacturing environments where a plant is closing.
Employees had to be suspicious something was not quite right. Not to excuse the higher ups, but corporate employees were locked out of the building since December 9 and had to give notice if they wanted to come on site. A buying trip was abruptly cancelled after it had already begun. Unfortunately these things happen every day - we just don’t see them featured as prominently in the news. Rank and file workers are always the ones who bear the brunt of it.
With no parties for young children, I haven’t been shopping there as much. I have been there twice in the last 6 months; to get balloons for people in the hospital and a wig for a Halloween costume. I will miss them.
Wonder if the CEO is running the register?
Actually, it looks like all corporate stores are closed as of yesterday. Franchise stores will begin widespread closures at the beginning of February.
I must have been a bad party mom cause I only remember going into a Party City once and don’t even know if I bought anything!
We never even had a Party City in town to go to. Walmart, Kmart and the Dollar Store it was.
I did go to one out of town for younger S’ college graduation!
It was always one of those stores where the employees acted like they were doing you a favor by doing their job. After a few visits I said no thanks.
DH works with distressed companies and unfortunately this scenario of management claiming everything is fine and suddenly there is no money happens more often than you’d think.
I wonder what prompted the replacement of the CEO who took the company out of bankruptcy with Litwin? Presumably the board knew about the precarious financial condition if they changed out the CEO.
Yep….hired to try and staunch the financial bleeding.
The company had struggled to pay off its $1.7 billion debt load, and it was able to cancel nearly $1 billion in debt by going bankrupt. It also managed to keep most of its more-than 800 stores open, although it closed more than 80 locations between the end of 2022 to August 2024, according to its most recent financial documents.
But it still had more than $800 million in debt to overcome, which strained earnings this year.
Party City, which operated about 750 stores, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2023 and emerged from the process in October 2023 with $1 billion less in debt. It also named a new CEO, Barry Litwin, who joined the company in August 2024. But the retailer evidently didn’t emerge on solid enough financial footing. Bloomberg recently reported the company was considering a sale or second bankruptcy.
In its bankruptcy filing Saturday, Party City reported assets of between $1 billion to $10 billion, along with liabilities of $1 billion to $10 billion – the company said it has between 10,000 and 25,000 creditors.
Big Lots is also closing. Their buyer out of bankruptcy back out.
Per CNN
The chain joins a growing list of retailer bankruptcies this year as customers cut back on discretionary spending amid the rising cost of living. Notably, Big Lots announced Thursday it was starting “going out of business” sales at all of its locations after a plan for a private equity firm to rescue the bankruptcy retailer failed.
Per USA Today
Other retail chains have faltered, too, recently, with Macy’s last week announcing accelerated store closures and Big Lots, which announced earlier this week that it would go out of business.
So far this year, there have been 7,327 store closings and 5,919 openings in the U.S., according to Coresight Research. That far outpaces closures in 2023, when the research firm tracked 5,473 closings (and 5,751 openings) – and is the highest number of store closures since 2020 when the pandemic shutdown of physical stores and the resulting fallout caused mass closures, Coresight Research CEO Deborah Weinswig told USA TODAY.
With Big Lots headquarters in Columbus, this is distressing news in Ohio. Like Big Lots or not, they have given a lot to community.
This is a BIG example, but they helped to fund this very needed and respected behavioral health facility at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (a top 5 children’s hospital in the US)
