Just before bankruptcy, Party City sent employees to meet suppliers in China: ‘You sent us there and you left us out to dry’

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving 2024, six members of Party City’s product development and sourcing teams left New Jersey for their annual trip to mainland China to meet with the company’s suppliers, who make practically everything the party store sells – from the mylar balloons at the front of the store to the aisles upon aisles of birthday, graduation and Halloween party decorations at the back.

Like every year, the trip was scheduled to last 12 days. In 2024, it lasted just two days.

CNN spoke to multiple people who were sent on the trip and who requested anonymity for fear of retribution or reputational damage. They said that on Wednesday, December 4, Party City’s management advised its American team in China – who had just arrived on Monday – to catch the next available flight home. Party City hadn’t paid its vendors in full. It was about to go bankrupt again, and in just a matter of weeks, it would announce plans to liquidate its entire business.

Read more