event City to close its stores as business files for insolvency

LOS ANGELES — For nearly 40 years, customers flocked to event City for Halloween costumes, favors for children’s birthday parties and decorations for recent Year’s Eve celebrations. Now, the leave-to shop for everything from cartoon-themed balloons to Super Bowl decor is closing stores.

event City announced Saturday that it would commence a “wind down” of its retail and wholesale operations as it prepares to shutter nearly 700 stores nationwide. The business has also filed for Chapter 11 insolvency protection for the second period in less than two years “to maximize worth for the advantage of the business’s stakeholders.”

“The selection was made following exhaustive efforts by the business to discover a path forward that would allow continued operations in an immensely challenging surroundings driven by inflationary pressures on costs and customer spending, among other factors,” event City said in a statement.

event City also filed for Chapter 11 insolvency protection in January 2023. That shift allowed for a restructuring that eliminated nearly $1 billion in obligation. But “macroeconomic headwinds more recently proved too severe” to overcome, the business said.

The recent Jersey-based retailer said it will keep more than 95% of its 12,000 employees to assist with the procedure of shutting down.

event 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 event balloons, and slowing customer demand.

The competition has also hit other retailers: Last week, discount chain large Lots said it would commence going-out-of-business sales at its remaining locations after a sale of the business didn’t materialize. event City’s website similarly shows going-out-of-business discounts of up to 50% on the shop’s entire assortment goods.