The popular party supply store known for their discounted prices, Party City, announced in December of 2024 that they will be closing most stores nationwide in 2025. The reasoning behind these closings are because Party City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
According to Investopedia, Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a form of bankruptcy that allows companies to reorganize its debts with court supervision. With this news, Party City will be closing most stores for a “fresh start”.
It is uncertain which stores will remain open and where, but one thing is for sure, prices in stores are marked down for the sake of trying to get rid of the items. And for a lot of people, this is sad because Party City has had nearly 40 years of business and now it is shutting down.
But how did all this money trouble even start? Well, Party City struggled keeping up with growing inflation, which made their costs higher and consumer spending lower. And this bankruptcy has been looming over their heads for a long time, since January 2023.
The franchise has been in $2 billion in debt, which they’ve decreased but only by $1 billion. And on February 28th of this year, about 12,000 employees will be cut loose when stores close.
This is very upsetting for a lot of people because they’ve always been able to turn to Party City whenever they were hosting a party or needed some party favors. However, in recent years, they weren’t able to keep up with competitors such as Target and Amazon.
Lots of people started turning to Target and Amazon instead of Party City. Now was this because they are better competitors or is it because of Party City’s looming bankruptcy? Who knows.
But some people would have rather shopped for their party supplies at Party City and now that it’s going out of business, they might not want to shop at the other stores. Even though Target is definitely a convenient alternative, they don’t sell solely party supplies like Party City does.
And what about the people who worked full time for Party City? What will they do? How easily will they get a new job?
For people who worked full time for the company, their salary could have been $28,000 per year. That’s a lot of money to be losing when the store closes for good.
It’s not necessarily the employees’ fault that this is the way their jobs end, even though some people might think it makes them look bad. But honestly, it might be beneficial for them to start finding a new job before it’s too late.
And for teenagers who had their part time jobs to make some spending money, now have to compete with thousands of other teenagers who are also searching for a job in a suburban town, which is not ideal.
But especially for loyal Party City customers, where will they shop for their party supplies now? They could turn to their competitors, Amazon and Target, however it’s not the same as Party City’s unique decorations.
However, if you’re having a Halloween party, Spirit Halloween will have plenty of costumes, decorations, and even the scary spiders that jump out on you. And on Amazon, you can practically find everything you’re looking for with surprisingly decent quality.
But for those who like to shop at stores that are specific to what you want, there aren’t many stores that only sell party supplies, only the occasional small business store here and there.
And if you’re asking yourself, who’s going to blow up my balloons, the cheapest option is going to the local Dollar Tree, even though the balloons might not be the best quality.
If you’re having a larger party, it’s recommended that you speak with a professional party planning company. Their balloons are high quality, and their services are not as expensive as you would think.
That’s the best you can do once Party City closes. Hopefully in the future, they can either resolve their financial issues or there will be a bigger and better party supplies store that opens in the future.
