By New York Daily News’ Brian Niemietz
After over 40 years, the retail behemoth Party City announced on Friday that it is closing all of its locations immediately and going out of business.
According to CNN, the party supply chain informed staff members during a Friday meeting that it would be their last day of employment with the New Jersey-based company.
CEO Barry Litwin reportedly told employees on a video conference call that they were losing their jobs five days before Christmas and would be let go without benefits or severance pay, saying, “That is without a doubt the most difficult message that I’ve ever had to deliver.”
During a critical time of economic repositioning, Litwin declared in August that he would assume control of the faltering company and its 700+ outlets.
According to CNN, the nation’s biggest party supply retailer filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of 2023, allowing the business to pay off around $1 billion in debt. Its issues persisted, though. Between 2022 and 2024, almost 80 stores were shut down.
Party City’s problems were attributed to a number of things, including competition from big-box stores like Walmart and Amazon. The epidemic also harmed the company when a helium shortage reportedly disrupted its profitable balloon industry at a time when the party and retail markets were already struggling.
In recent weeks, corporate employees had a feeling that the party was coming to an end, CNN reported. Because Party City was no longer paying its suppliers, the product development staff was recently instructed not to go to an annual meeting with vendors. However, it was reported that the abrupt statement on Friday caught the staff off surprise.
A request for comment from Party City was not answered by Daily News.
The Red Lobster seafood brand and Big Lots home stores are among the other companies that are having difficulty surviving in 2024. On Thursday, the latter announced that it would begin going-out-of-business sales at all of its sites following the collapse of an agreement to preserve the firm from bankruptcy.
In September, Big Lots declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.Red Lobster followed suit in May and declared in September that it had discovered a white knight to keep the restaurant operating.
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