Party Monster, based in Harlow, Essex, has said it has been forced to close its shop to make way for a more profitable business.
The shop, which is based in Harlow’s Harvey Centre, along with the GAME store next door closed its doors for the final time this week, to make way for a branch of Shoe Zone.
The shopping centre is owned by the council, but had different landlords when Party Monster, which has operated for over 25 years, moved to its current unit three years ago. As part of the lease, Party Monster agreed that it may be removed from the unit in favour of a more profitable business.
Owner Lucilla Ferraro told EssexLive that another part of the deal was that the council would help the business find a new premises. The council claims to have offered alternatives, but Lucilla said: “No effort whatsoever was made. Management would come in and say ‘don’t worry, we’ll find you somewhere, we can’t let you go, you are an asset to the centre’. But really there was nothing.”
Lucilla claimed the alternative units were in low footfall areas, or cost too much. She added: “We are a great asset to the centre. We are bringing colour and on occasions like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, we put on great displays in the centre itself. We have stalls there, we attract a lot of people.”
A spokesperson for Harlow Council, commented: “The Harvey Centre management has gone above and beyond to support the business over many years. The centre has explored all available options, but unfortunately these have been turned down, cited as either not being suitable or affordable or requiring extensive and costly fit out work. There is also interest from other occupiers who are able to offer commercial terms significantly in excess of those proposed by Party Monster.
“We want to see independent small businesses thrive in our town, so it is disappointing that a way forward could not be found on this occasion. We understand Party Monster will continue online and we wish them well for the future.”
Party Monster has confirmed on its Facebook page, that it will continue to offer balloon displays with door to door delivery.
