Party City cites global helium shortage in store closing announcement

Party City will close 45 of its approximately 870 stores amid a global helium shortage, the company said Thursday. 

“This year, after careful consideration and evaluation of our store fleet, we’ve made the decision to close more stores than usual in order to help optimize our market level performance, focus on the most profitable locations and improve the overall health of our store portfolio,” said CEO James M. Harrison in a statement.{mosads}

He noted that Party City typically closes between 10 and 15 stores in a given year. He also said that the company’s balloon sales were impacted by the helium shortage, but that the company has signed a letter of agreement with a new helium provider.

“We believe this new source should substantially eliminate the shortfall we are experiencing at current allocation rates and improve our ability to return to a normal level of latex and metallic balloon sales,” he said, adding that the source will begin providing helium this summer and continue to do so for 2 1/2 years.

He added that, overall, the company’s first quarter results were “largely in line” with expectations.