The party is over for , Party City  , as the retail giant announced Friday it was going out of business and , closing all its stores , after nearly 40 years.
Workers of the , a New Jersey-based group network were informed in a Friday meeting that they would be leaving their jobs without severance pay or benefit extensions, effective immediately.
” That is without question the most difficult message that I’ve ever had to deliver” , , CEO , Barry Litwin , said in a video conference call, according to CNN.
Litwin announced in August he was  , taking over leadership of the struggling company  , and its more than 700 stores during a “pivotal” period of repositioning for the business.
The country’s largest party supply chain , declared bankruptcy at the start of 2023, which allowed the company to cancel nearly$ 1 billion in debt. However its troubles continued. More than 80 stores were closed between 2022 and 2024.
A myriad of variables, including competition from large retailers like Amazon and , were to blame for Party City’s problems, according to experts. The pandemic, which apparently caused a helium shortage, to cripple the company’s lucrative balloon business at a time when the party and retail industries were now struggling, also hurt the company.
According to CNN, business employees had an idea that the group was coming to an end in recent weeks. Due to Party City’s discontinuation of payments to those manufacturers, the product development team was just advised to abstain from attending a vendor annual meeting. But still, people were said to have been caught off-guard by Friday’s unexpected news.
Party City has never responded to a , Daily News , request for comment. According to the company’s website, it ‘s , 35 , New York City  , area stores , planned to stay open until , 9 p. m. Friday  , before locking the doors for the last time.
Other companies struggling to stay afloat in 2024 include the Red Lobster shrimp ring and , Big Lots , home businesses, the latter of which said Thursday it had launch , going-out-of-business sales at all of its locations , after a deal to save the business from debt collapsed.
Big Lots , filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September.  , Red Lobster did the same in May, finally announced in September it had , found a light knight , to keep the restaurant eating.
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