Party City Is Back… Inside Staples? | Fast Five Shorts

Party City is back, but not the way you remember it, everybody.

After filing for bankruptcy for the second time in 2024 and shuttering nearly all of its locations, Party City has reopened inside more than 700 Staples stores nationwide, with plans to expand to additional Staples locations through the end of 2026, according to Chain Storage.

The partnership announced this week brings Party City's balloons, decor, tableware, gift bags and costume accessories inside Staples locations, turning Staples into a one stop shop for celebration and and printing needs.

Customers can combine Party City supplies with Staples Print Services, creating custom banners, yard signs, posters and personalized invitations all in one visit.

I think this is the first time the word yard has been used twice in two headlines in the history of the OmniTok retail fast five balloon pickups will soon be available to schedule online via staples.com and the Staples app Shelley.

Party City had 700 standalone stores at its peak before it went bankrupt.

Now it has 700 locations again, but this time they're inside of Staples.

Is this a genuine second act for a beloved brand and or a point of real differentiation for Staples?

I think it's neither.

Neither.

And I'll take you through.

I'll take.

I think this is gonna so the, the growth in Party is coming from personalization, so I don't think the insight there or the thesis is wrong.

I do think, however, this is going to come down to execution on Staples part.

So when we talk about this, they have to bring this platform together which is going to require not only your digital interface, your execution in stores, what customer service looks like, but in general the margin is in the balloon business, the margin is in the personalization business.

When you look at the rest of the business for Party City, you have low retail items that potentially have incredibly low velocity due to Amazon and Walmart outpacing them on every level, including including beating them on price.

So anytime you combine low retail categories with low velocity, it destroys your ROI in the business.

And so I think if Staples can't pull together the personalization and the other part of the business, this makes absolutely no sense.

It's going to be dilutive to their business.

They're not going to be a destination.

And I think there's huge risks across the board in execution, training, marketing and then potentially stagnant inventory for not turning any of it.

So this is a big, big one to watch, I guess, because it's going to require a lot to be successful here.

Wow.

Shelly, tell us how you really feel.

I love it.

I love the candor on this one.

This is great this is great.

No, I, I think I agree with you though because like, you know, we've talked about it a lot.

Staples feels like it's just trying to be like the, the mall for all the junk that you don't want to do.

It's becoming like the swap meet for like retail concepts or ideas.

And so they're throwing Party City in there.

And I, I guess I get the tie ins to it on the printing side.

But your point is, right, because we've talked about on the show a lot you can't just build it and they will come.

You can't take an Iowa strategy and just build it and they will come.

It's not going to work that way.

You have to spend money, you have to invest in marketing and in store training and digital product development, which is what gets you all the personalization aspects of what you've, you've talked about in order to make this work.

So.

Yeah, I'm with you.

I just, I just think, you know, where's the ROI in that in the long run?

And also, Shelley, you brought this up about, you know, Amazon and the other competition that's out there in that space.

Like, it's going to be really hard to keep up or even meet the level that's table stakes for that right now, given the amount of investment you've put into this as Staples and as a defunct Party City, let alone in the long run too.

So, like, I just, yeah, I don't, I don't see this bringing a lot of traffic into the store.

I feel like it's going to be more, more of a hamstringing effort in the long run too.

I think so, too.

So many parts of the party business are highly commoditized and that's where Amazon and Walmart really shine.

So it'll be interesting to see if they can make this one work.

Yeah, well, I get, but I guess, you know, I do need those balloons for my yard.

That's where, that's where it could be interesting.

Right, right, right.

Yeah, the graduation yard signs, you know, like, hey, little Johnny's graduating from high school today.

Come into Staples and make the sign.

So, yeah, who knows?

I mean, it's, I don't, I don't hate it as much as, as I don't, I don't know, I don't hate it that much.

I just think it's going to be really hard to do.

Exactly.

I agree.