North American party retail chain Party City has announced its plans to open 50 pop-up Toy City stores alongside its temporary Halloween City stores, capitalising on the gap left in the market following the recent liquidation of the Toys R Us chain.
The party goods retailer says that the stores will open in early September and stay open until the end of the traditional holiday shopping period.
With Halloween City and Toy City stores co-existing under one roof, the stores will now average 12,000 square feet of floor space, according to chief financial officer Dan Sullivan. The list of locations has not yet been finalised, but the retailer plans to open about 250 to 270 Halloween City pop-ups this year.
Approximately two-thirds of the floor space will be devoted to Halloween City until the end of October. After Halloween, the rest of the space will gradually transition to Toy City for the remainder of the holiday season. Staff will work across both areas of the store.
“We think it’s a really neat opportunity for us to test a concept and obviously market dynamics have helped,” said Dan, explaining that the company is hoping to secure higher-grade real estate locations by offering six months of rent up front.
“The creation of a Toy City concept to complement our temporary seasonal retail strategy is a logical extension of our brand; one that will allow us to leverage our existing pop-up store capabilities and capitalise on the category whitespace that has recently been created,” said Party City ceo James Harrison.
Party City, which will also be expanding its online toy offering, has described the strategy as a ‘pilot project’, which suggests it could be expanded further in the future. The company currently has about 900 stores, including 150 franchised locations and temporary shops.
