New York
CNN
—
Party City is closing down all of its shops, ending almost 40 years in enterprise, CNN has discovered.
CEO Barry Litwin advised company staff Friday in a gathering seen by CNN that Party City is “winding down” operations instantly and that immediately will likely be their final day of employment.
“That is with out query probably the most tough message that I’ve ever needed to ship,” Litwin stated on the assembly, which was held on a video convention name.
Party City’s “best possible efforts haven’t been sufficient to beat” its monetary challenges, he added, ensuing within the firm’s collapse.
“It’s actually essential so that you can know that we’ve executed the whole lot potential that we might to attempt to keep away from this consequence,” Litwin stated. “Unfortunately, it’s essential to start a winddown course of instantly.”
Party City didn’t instantly reply to CNN’s request for remark.
Bankruptcy and collapse
The New Jersey-based firm introduced Litwin as its new CEO simply 4 months in the past. In a LinkedIn publish he wrote when he was employed, he stated the corporate’s “essential precedence is to strengthen our monetary well being, and there’s work forward of us.”
Party City exited chapter a month after Litwin’s arrival. It had declared chapter in January 2023. The firm had struggled to repay its $1.7 billion debt load, and it was in a position to cancel almost $1 billion in debt by going bankrupt. It additionally managed to maintain most of its more-than 800 shops open, though it closed greater than 80 places between the top of 2022 to August 2024, in accordance with its most up-to-date monetary paperwork.
But it nonetheless had greater than $800 million in debt to beat, which strained earnings this 12 months.
Party City is the most important social gathering provide retailer within the United States. The firm had roughly 6,400 full-time and 10,100 part-time staff as of 2021.
The firm, which sells balloons, Halloween costumes and different social gathering items, has stumbled within the face of rising competitors from e-commerce websites and pop-up ideas like Spirit Halloween. Competition from big-box retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Costco and others additionally crushed smaller chains.
It additionally needed to deal with rising prices throughout the pandemic and a helium scarcity, which damage its essential balloon enterprise.
The chain joins a rising record of retailer bankruptcies this 12 months as clients in the reduction of on discretionary spending amid the rising price of residing. Notably, Big Lots introduced Thursday it was beginning “going out of enterprise” gross sales in any respect of its places after a plan for a non-public fairness agency to rescue the chapter retailer failed.
Major chains are on monitor to shut the very best variety of shops in 2024 than in any 12 months since 2020, in accordance with Coresight Research.
