This may be the last time I blog about Party City until I run into reports of its last company-owned closing next month (the ones owned by franchisees will keep their doors open — for now) or Bright Sun Films uploads a video about the chain as part of his Bankrupt series. That may take a while, especially since he's Canadian and his country's Party City stores will remain open.It took less than two full months, as Jake Williams of Bright Sun Films uploaded Bankrupt - Party City on Pi Day.
After growing to become the premier party supply store in America with nearly 1,000 stores and tens of thousands of employees, Party City was a force to be reckoned with in it's retail niche. However, as the years went on, the company began to struggle, ultimately filing for bankruptcy twice with it's most recent filing marking the end for the storied retailer. Join me today to find out what happened here.I feel like no bankrupt company's story is fully told until both Company Man Mike and Jake Williams of Bright Sun Films have weighed in. Jake identified all the same issues Company Man did in his video, although Jake went into more narrative detail, such as better identifying the private equity firms, while using fewer graphs. In particular, he did the best job among all the sources I've featured of examining the helium shortage, which especially plagued Party City, but still deserves a post of its own. Being Canadian, Jake couldn't resist pointing out that the Canadian Party City stores remain open, just like he couldn't resist saying "the party is over for Party City." Sadly, it is.
Stay tuned for another Retail Apocalypse post tomorrow.
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