No. of Recommendations: 0
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/party-ci...Party City is shutting down all of its stores after being in business for more than 40 years, according to CNN.
The CEO of the company, Barry Litwin, told corporate employees that Friday, Dec. 20 would be their last day at the company, CNN reported. The staff won’t get any severance pay and their benefits will end that day as the company shutters.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Party City isn’t the only one. While the shutdowns haven’t been quite so brutal, there have been plenty.
Bowflex (known for their TV informercials)
Big Lots (last minute save to keep 200 of 800 locations open, maybe)
Joann’s (sewing goods)
Lumber Liquidators
Red Lobster
Spirit Airlines
Stoli (vodka)
TGI Fridays
True Value Hardware
Tupperware
Imagine if we were in a recession!
No. of Recommendations: 2
Imagine if we were in a recession!The economy has been remarkably resilient. Seems like every time we think a recession is coming, one segment or another improves enough to bring the overall growth up sufficiently. The death of some retail was kind of foreseen with the rapid increase in wages for retail staff (it went from roughly $10-12/hr to $18-22/hr in less than 5 years). Stores like Party City can't afford to pay someone $20 an hour to blow up balloons a few times an hour, even if they charge $5 a balloon. Plus for non-real-time stuff (like balloons), they faced heavy competition, first from Amazon/eBay/Walmart, but now from direct-from-Asia (or direct from distributor) shippers at rock bottom prices. The same paper and plastic goods that Party City needed to sell for $5.99 a pack can be delivered right from the distributor in Asia for $2.99 a pack (or even less sometimes). And retail places have seen their rent go up a bit, and their insurance go up a lot, and all sorts of compliance expenses go up quite a bit. I wonder what will move into the spot where our Party City is located? Maybe a [two] dollar store or similar?
For example, I recently bought this pack of plastic dinnerware party stuff -
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D119P56S The equivalent at Party City would run close to, or maybe even over, $100. Why would I even consider buying it from Party City for over 3 times the price?
No. of Recommendations: 0
I wonder what will move into the spot where our Party City is located? Maybe a [two] dollar store or similar?
Probably another Asian nail salon or three. Lord knows we don’t have enough of those yet.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Probably another Asian nail salon or three. Lord knows we don’t have enough of those yet.
LOL. That would require investment by the strip mall owner. The nail salon (or barber, or dog groomer, etc) needs only 10% of that space, so the owner would have to subdivide the space before leasing segments of it. And they won't make that investment unless they get some solid tenants, and nail salons aren't solid, they go out of business regularly, or just move to a less expensive location as soon as they find one.
There's a well run strip mall nearby that had a large-ish restaurant sports bar kind of place (maybe 150-180 indoor seats, about 100 outdoor) in it and they closed down abruptly about a year ago. It was amazing, I'd pass by sometimes at 3am and they still had people hanging out with friends at the outdoor tables. Literally the night before they abruptly closed, I saw people there just after 1am. The next few days, every time I walked by (it's on one of my favorite walking routes), there were people that arrived, parker their car, walked up to the door, and were disappointed by the "closed" sign. The place is still not leased. When previous restaurants failed at that location, the location was re-leased usually within 3 or 4 months, but not this time.
No. of Recommendations: 0
stoli is an interesting story.
one of the few companies to denounce putin and the ukraine invasion, a cyberattack (almost certainly from russia's state sponsored cybercrime efforts) was the last straw. of course , even alcohol stalwarts like diageo are facing what seems a secular decline.
now that stoli america is in bankruptcy, maybe trump can find some camaraderie with this company that employed americans.
