PARTY City has decided to shutter doors to a location and a local ban that directly affected its profits was partly to blame.
Party shoppers will no longer be able to get their celebratory goods from Party City in Encinitas, California, located 26 miles north of San Diego starting April 27.
2
2
A Party City store manager confirmed the closing, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The store is now filled with “store closing” and “everything must go” signs.
The Encinitas Party City location took a major hit after the city banned all stores from selling balloons filled with helium in 2022.
The city banned helium balloons to help combat single-use plastic and keep nearby beaches clean due to what was referred to as a “zero-waste nightmare,” CBS affiliate KFMB reported in 2022.
read more on party city
Hundreds of balloon scraps were being discovered on the beaches at the time.
Mark O'Connor with the Rise Above Plastics Committee in San Diego had proof of the balloon scraps when arguing for the ban.
"This is my about 190 to 200 balloons. I've lost count now. Yeah, like I said, there's a couple of people that have given them to me too,” O’Connor said in 2022, KFMB reported.
“You can see there is mylar and latex, all the ribbons.”
Most read in Money
'NAIL IN THE COFFIN'
The helium ban was good for environmental purposes but ended up being detrimental to the local Party City.
Store manager, Gavin O’Donnell, said taking away helium-filled balloon sales from Party City was a “nail in the coffin” toward the store’s performance, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
O’Donnell explained that the ban took a bite out of the store’s sales.
The Encinitas Party City was still able to sell deflated balloons but customers would have to travel to the next city over to get them filled up with helium.
The closest city customers could head to for their helium needs was in Carlsbad which is about a 10-minute drive.
Once the Encinitas store closes, there will be 10 Party Citys still operating in San Diego County.
The Encinitas Party City is selling tons of discounted merchandise including 40% off costumes, 10% off St. Patrick’s Day gear, and 5% off bags of candy.
