Dive Brief:
- Staples and Party City have partnered to bring the party retailer inside over 700 Staples locations nationwide and on the Staples website, according to a press release.
- Party City will expand into more Staples locations by the end of the year.
- The companies want to create a single destination for celebrations by offering a selection of balloons, decor and party supplies alongside Staples’ print services for personalized invitations, banners and signs.
Dive Insight:
Staples wants to keep the party going.
With this partnership, one of the foundational Party City and Staples product offerings is balloons. The in-store experience features a range of latex and foil helium balloons, in a variety of colors, sizes and designs. Shoppers will also soon be able to schedule balloon pickups in advance through the Staples website and app.
However, the offer is being presented during a widely reported helium shortage, with supply falling back due to the Iran war. Staples did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the shortage.
“By bringing Party City into Staples stores, we’re expanding what customers can accomplish in one place — combining helium balloons and party supplies with our print and marketing services to offer a complete solution for celebrations, from graduations to grand openings and everything in between,” Marshall Warkentin, president of Staples U.S. Retail, said in a statement.
Party City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late 2024 and announced it would close its entire fleet of stores. It was the retailer’s second time through bankruptcy court in less than two years, following a Chapter 11 filing in 2023.
By the start of 2025, New Amscan, an affiliate of producer, manufacturer and distributor Ad Populum, announced it had purchased Party City’s IP and wholesale operations for $20 million.
At the time, court documents revealed that craft retailer Michaels was the backup bidder for Party City’s IP. Since then, Michaels has made efforts to take market share by increasing its offerings of balloons and party supplies, and expanding in-store events for children and adults, including birthday celebrations, private events and crafting activities.
Michaels CEO David Boone, who has been in the role for about a year, recently spoke about the retailer’s efforts to go after the party and craft segments that were left open after the fall of both Party City and Joann.
“When [CFO Perry Pericleous] and I got here, as we worked on the strategy, the first thing that we concluded was there was tremendous disruption in the marketplace with the exit of Joann Fabric and the exit of Party City — and that job one was to go after that,” Boone said at the ICR Conference in January. “In the last six-seven months, we have introduced a Party Shop by Michaels in every single store in our fleet, and we’ve introduced the Knit & Sew Shop in every single store in our fleet.”
