LOS ANGELES (AP) — For nearly 40 years, customers flocked to Party City for Halloween costumes, favors for children's birthday parties and decorations for New Year's Eve celebrations. Now, the go-to shop for everything from cartoon-themed balloons to Super Bowl decor is closing stores.
Party City announced Saturday that it would start a “wind down” of its retail and wholesale operations as it prepares to shutter nearly 700 stores nationwide. The company has also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than two years “to maximize value for the benefit of the company’s stakeholders.”
“The decision was made following exhaustive efforts by the company to find a path forward that would allow continued operations in an immensely challenging environment driven by inflationary pressures on costs and consumer spending, among other factors,” Party City said in a statement.
Party City also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2023. That move allowed for a restructuring that eliminated nearly $1 billion in debt. But “macroeconomic headwinds more recently proved too severe” to overcome, the company said.
The New Jersey-based retailer said it will keep more than 95% of its 12,000 employees to help with the process of shutting down.
Party City has faced growing competition from Walmart and Target and increasingly from occasion-based pop-up stores such as Spirit Halloween, which announced in October that it would also open 10 Spirit Christmas stores. That pressure has intensified in an era of rising prices, including for helium used in party balloons, and slowing consumer demand.
The competition has also hit other retailers: Last week, discount chain Big Lots said it would start going-out-of-business sales at its remaining locations after a sale of the company didn’t materialize. Party City's website similarly shows going-out-of-business discounts of up to 50% on the shop's entire assortment goods.
FILE - This is the sign on the front of a Party City store in Orchard Park, NY., on Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, file)
Liverpool heads into Christmas with a four-point lead, a game in hand and as the overwhelming title favorite in the Premier League on the back of a wild 6-3 win at Tottenham on Sunday.
As for Manchester United and its new manager Ruben Amorim, they stumble into the festive period in 13th place — as low as they’ve been at Christmas since the 1989-90 season — and with a familiar sinking feeling.
United lost 3-0 at home to Bournemouth for the second straight season, the latest statistic to show just how far this English giant has fallen and the job Amorim has to turn around its fortunes.
Worse for United, it seems like great rival Liverpool cannot be stopped.
Make that 21 games in all competitions without defeat after the Reds' biggest league win of the season, with Mohamed Salah netting two of the goals to move above Manchester City's Erling Haaland to the top of the scoring charts.
Liverpool has 39 points from 16 games and stretched its lead over second-place Chelsea, which could only draw 0-0 at Everton, to end a five-match winning streak in the league.
Salah now has 15 goals in the Premier League to break a tie with Haaland — and will leave London thinking he should have had more.
In an end-to-end contest resembling a basketball match, Liverpool scored more than five goals for the first time this season, with Luis Diaz (two), Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai also netting.
Tottenham's injury-hit defense was open at the back but its attack caused Liverpool's problems throughout, with James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke all finding the net.
Spurs are another big team in the bottom half, having slipped to 11th place.
The optimism that might have been generated by a last-gasp 2-1 derby win at Manchester City last weekend has disappeared for United, which lost 4-3 at Tottenham in the English League Cup quarterfinals on Thursday before being handed a defeat to Bournemouth by the same score as 12 months ago.
“We were a bit nervous, I felt it in the stadium,” said Amorim, who has won four and lost four in all competitions since starting his United tenure with a draw at Ipswich on Nov. 24.
Dean Huijsen, Justin Kluivert — from the penalty spot — and Antoine Semenyo scored for Bournemouth, which climbed to fifth place in the standings and has now beaten Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham and United this season. Indeed, City has dropped to seventh place, an unthinkable unravelling for the winner of the last four Premier League titles.
United left out Marcus Rashford for the third straight match.
“We know how big it is at this club," United defender Lisandro Martinez told the BBC. “The expectation is very high, it’s a process and you can see we are playing so well but we also concede goals and we have to work on that. I know the fans are impatient with us.”
After all the money spent on players — $1.3 billion and counting — and the huge turnover of managers, Chelsea's American ownership could have seen the club atop the Premier League with a win at Everton — for a couple of hours at least.
However, a 0-0 draw ended Chelsea's eight-match winning run in all competitions and gave Liverpool the opportunity to push four points clear.
Nicolas Jackson headed against the post in the first half for Chelsea, while Everton had the clearer chances in the second half.
Everton also held Arsenal 0-0 last weekend.
“Sometimes you have to play a different game and we are learning to play a different game,” Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said. “They (Everton) are one of the best teams in Europe in terms of clean sheets.”
Vitor Pereira got off to a great start as Wolverhampton manager, with his new team beating Leicester 3-0 in his first match in charge.
Pereira took charge on Thursday as the replacement for Gary O'Neil and immediately ended Wolves' four-game losing run as Gonçalo Guedes, Rodrigo Gomes and Matheus Cunha scored first-half goals at King Power Stadium.
Wolves stayed in the relegation zone but moved two points behind Leicester, which is a place above the bottom three, and Pereira said: “I believe that we will stay in the Premier League and we will play at a better level than we saw today."
It handed Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy a second straight big loss early in his reign, after a 4-0 defeat at Newcastle last weekend.
Another recently hired Premier League manager, Ivan Juric, began life at Southampton with a 0-0 draw at Fulham.
Juric wasn't in charge of the team because he doesn't have a work permit. He was sitting in the stands for the match instead.
Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Liverpool players get together just before the start of the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Tottenham's head coach Ange Postecoglou reacts after Liverpool's Mohamed Salah scored his side's fifth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Liverpool's Luis Diaz, second right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's sixth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Wolverhampton Wanderers' Goncalo Guedes celebrates scoring his side's first goal of the game with teammates, during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers at King Power Stadium, in Leicester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)
Everton's Ashley Young, left, and Chelsea's Axel Disasi battle for the ball during the English Premier League match soccer match between Everton and Chelsea, at Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, Sunday Dec. 22, 2024. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson (right) battle for the ball during the English Premier League match soccer match between Everton and Chelsea, at Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, Sunday Dec. 22, 2024. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Manchester United's head coach Ruben Amorim claps his hands before the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Bournemouth at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester United's Tyrell Malacia argues with line referee Akil Howson after a foul on Bournemouth's Adam Smith during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Bournemouth at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Bournemouth's Dean Huijsen celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Bournemouth at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester United's Alejandro Garnacho is dejected after missing an opportunity to score during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Bournemouth at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
