AN iconic retailer is due to shut yet another location in the latest of a long line of closures.
A whopping 850 of the stores have closed down across the nation with just one left in the state now.
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Party City is closing down one of its two stores now remaining in Virginia.
The move will see just one Party City location left standing in the state.
It was confirmed on Monday by the franchisee that the branch at 9130 W. Broad St. Richmond, will cease all operations at the end of the month.
Another store at 12741, Stone Village Way, Midlothian, which is owned by the same franchisee, will remain open.
The Midlothian Way store will now be left as the last Party City location in the area.
Steve Fram, the franchisee who owns both Party City locations, is one of only nine franchisees left.
Between them they owned 29 Party City stores, many of which will soon be or already are closed down.
Party City corporate, which only just emerged from bankruptcy in 2024 has announced suddenly that it would be going out of business and closing its nearly 900 locations, including nearly 700 in the U.S.
Despite Party City announcing its demise in December Steve’s franchisee status allowed him to remain open and to continue using the Party City name.
Steve had hoped he would be able to remain open despite the wider company going out of business.
Hundreds of stores across the country began to close and offer up massive discounts in going out of business sales.
Steve’s Broad Street store could not maintain enough business during all of this to remain open.
Steve’s other store is still hanging in and will be one of only 26 remaining franchise locations.
The remaining stores will still pay for the right to use the Party City name and pay royalties on sales.
With one of his stores closing Steve was faced with the tough choice of deciding what to do with the 15 employees who work their.
All fifteen sadly lost their jobs amid the closure.
The Broad Street store has been open since 1994 with Steve managing and owning it ever since.
US braces for ‘45,000 store closures’
Some 45,000 bricks-and-mortar stores could close in the next five years, experts have warned.
Several major retailers have announced store closures or gone out of business altogether in recent years.
In 2023, chains such as Foot Locker announced plans to close up to 400 outlets by 2026.
While, other well-known retailers like Tuesday Morning and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams filed for bankruptcy in 2023.
Bed Bath & Beyond has closed all of its brick-and-mortar stores and is now an online-only retailer.
The most affected retailers have been clothing, consumer electronics, sporting goods, hobby, book, music, and home furnishing stores since the start of 2019.
UBS has predicted the total number of retail stores will drop by 45k from 958k to 913k.
Despite that, the report says that certain stores should thrive while others decline.
It said retailers such as Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, and Target, could be among the winners.
