wow. All Party City stores shut . ending pay and benefits immediately (corp employees, right before Christmas. HARSH!!

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/20/business/party-city-shut-down

Party City is closing down all of its stores, ending nearly 40 years in business, CNN has learned.

CEO Barry Litwin told corporate employees Friday in a meeting viewed by CNN that Party City is “winding down” operations immediately and that today will be their last day of employment. Staff were told they will not receive severance pay, and they were told their benefits would end as the company goes out of business.

“That is without question the most difficult message that I’ve ever had to deliver,” Litwin said at the meeting, which was held on a video conference call.


Party City’s “very best efforts have not been enough to overcome” its financial challenges, he added, resulting in the company’s collapse. Litwin said the company struggled to contend with inflation, which sent the company’s costs higher and dragged down consumer spending.

“It’s really important for you to know that we’ve done everything possible that we could to try to avoid this outcome,” Litwin said. “Unfortunately, it’s necessary to commence a winddown process immediately.”

Also on Friday, some of Party City’s store employees received letters that the company would close down stores on February 28, at which point store staff would be terminated.

“Although Party City believes these closings are in the best interest of the company, we regret that we have had to take this step and thank you for your valued contributions and service to the company,” the letter stated.

[wcmagumba]

1. Rat bastards....nt

[Shellback Squid]

2. sure, the CEO Litman made 2.8 million in 2023, best interests of the company? another asshole CEO

[2naSalit]

3. That's what...

They always say as they plunge the dagger into your back.

[raccoon]

11. ""That is without question the most difficult message that I've ever had to deliver," Litwin said

Yeah, right, MF.

[Klarkashton]

4. Was this a many times leveraged private equity buy/sell

Nightmare as usual?

[magicarpet]

5. Searsed and Kmarted to death after being raped of its assets ?.

[area51]

6. All the more reason why we need a Universal Basic Income in the US. n/t

[LuvLoogie]

7. Private Equity are the skimmers and takers. The bloodsuckers feeding off of human enterprise.

https://nypost.com/2023/01/25/party-citys-founder-blames-bankruptcy-on-private-equity-firms/

--Steve Mandell, who launched the chain in 1986 with a single store in East Hanover, NJ, pinned the retailer’s implosion on a lack of bargains and variety at its stores — a problem he claims was created when private equity executives locked it into a large supply deal with a manufacturer they already owned for roughly 80% of its supply.

“They [new owners] took out the top two things that made this company very special,” Mandell told The Post in an exclusive interview. “First, we were the discount party superstore. Today, it is not a discount store. The prices are top dollar.”--

[MichMan]

8. It failed under his watch too

Mandell lost control of the company he founded in 1999 — three years after taking the company public. He had blamed the then-CFO for not tracking inventory correctly, leading the company to not file a 1998 audit on time.

That caused its shares to crash, and investor Michael Tennenbaum took control of the business for a relatively low price after it was delisted.

So, when it went public, he likely enriched himself with the proceeds, and then when things fell apart under his watch, blamed the management team that he had hired, while the stockholders took massive losses. Mandell was fired by the Board of Directors

[MANative]

9. My husband worked for them for a couple of years

As an assistant store manager. During the pandemic, they ordered masks that were supposed to be used by employees at work. He left the store with one inadvertently and they terminated him for it. Mostly an excuse to cut mgmt payroll cuz they never replaced him. It was a horrible place to work.

[33taw]

10. Is this a shock! I haven't been on a Party City store in 30 years.

[BoRaGard]

12. Republicon-style management screws the workers

as always

[JanMichael]

13. It's not 1999 anymore.