US party retail chain Party City has commented on its plans to close 45 branches throughout 2019, emphasising that the store closures are completely unrelated to the current global helium shortage.
“It’s important to note that Party City’s decision to close an increased number of stores in 2019 is completely unrelated to the global helium issue,” said Party City ceo Jim Harrison in a statement. “These are two separate topics, the latter of which we’ve made significant in-roads in addressing.”
He continued: “The decision to close 45 stores in 2019 is part of our network optimization process focusing on maximizing store performance on a market basis. We believe that the opportunity to recapture much of the business conducted in the closed stores in other Party City locations within the market will provide for overall improved profitability for our company.”
“It is also important to note that most of the stores being closed were themselves profitable on a stand-alone basis,” he added.
It has not yet been announced which of the 850 US stores will be closing.
