Party City Expands in Winnipeg and Canada

In 2019 Party City was bought by Canadian Tire and operates separately from Party City in the U.S. which started in New Jersey in 1986. The 65 Canadian stores were bought for $175 million and the plan was to double sales and then the pandemic hit. Now, Canadian Tire has expanded locations and focusing on holiday sales.

The company should not be confused with Winnipeg-based Party Stuff which has three locations in the city and has existed since since the 1950s and owned by the Glass family since 1982. Their Polo Park location on Century has been there since 1985. The family also has a Halloween shop on Regent in addition to their other Party Stuff locations.

Party City, owned by Canadian Tire, should be not be confused with the Spirit Halloween stores either. This is one of their big competitors although those stores are only in places less than half a year. It would be a mistake to think that party stores are only about the holidays certain times of year. They are for milestones and fundraisers as well as retirements and birthdays.

Winnipeg has rated two new stores of the four that are newly built for Party City. 

Locations of the four new stores:  

• Party City Kanata, 501 Earl Grey Drive, Kanata, ON 

• Party City Kitchener Sunrise Centre, 1400 Ottawa Street South, Kitchener, ON 

• Party City Winnipeg Kenaston, 1765 Kenaston Boulevard, Winnipeg, MB 

• Party City Winnipeg Polo Park, 1545 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB 

The former EQ3 location at Polo Park is one location. Since the furniture store moved into the old Sears, the old EQ3 sport has looked for a permanent replacement. It held a Spirit Halloween store strangely enough. Party City should find the Polo Park spot a busy location. And for Cadillac Fairview, the store is a unique attraction.

The other location opened is the former Nygard store in Linden Woods. It seemed a big reach to find a single retailer to take over the large space but Party City has filled the whole spot.

The one stop aspect of a party store is favoured by many. Walmart and Costco just don't carry as many balloons and knick knacks, decorations. The party stores also cover other religious and ethnic celebrations well. It just don't feel like a Christmas store. Halloween though has grown into an enormous industry in the last years.

In Winnipeg's case, the expansion of some large Party City stores fills some retail holes that have remained open for some time. The loss of some major retailers with U.S. ownership was substantial. This has been mitigated by Canadian companies buying U.S. assets when the opportunities came. In a lot of cases, U.S. liquidators were only interested in shutting things down.

In the case of Party City, Canadian Tire took it over in 2019 and folded into its retail operations. It means Party City items are in Canadian Tire stores as well. This has been a successful marketing move for Canadian Tire as they can get clothing, party and other supply chain movement into their stores.

Having Canadian Tire as owner gives a huge amount of stability to Party City. The Canadian retailer is simply one of the best and has fund ways to be profitable and growing even with huge American competition. As for other competitors such as Party Stuff, there appears to be room for them as they also rent party tables, equipment that so many people need to run a successful party.  For the consumer in Winnipeg, it means many options.