National Retailer Closing Meriden Store

MERIDEN, CT - Party City will close 45 of its 870 nationwide stores in 2019, according to a statement from the company. A global helium shortage has hurt sales for the company, although the company said it has found a new supplier to offset the damage.

One of the stores that will close is its 533 Broad St. location in Meriden. It's one of six stores that the company has confirmed will close, Business Insider reported.

James M. Harrison, Party City Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement, “Overall, our first quarter results were largely in line with our expectations on the top and bottom lines, inclusive of the helium shortage, which negatively impacted our latex and metallic balloon categories."

Typically, the company said it only closes 10-15 stores per year.

Regarding the additional store closures, Harrison said: "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.”

The Hits Keep Coming

News that another national retailer is closing more locations is certainly not uncommon unfortunately. There have been numerous retailers who either closed several stores or simply went out of business.

Sears recently closed its Meriden location earlier this year. Other Sears locations that have closed within the past year include Milford, Waterbury and Waterford. Last August K-Mart announced it would close its Milford location.

Lowe's announced plans to close its Orange location in 2019 and Mattress Firm announced last year that it would close locations in Branford, Bristol, Newington, Orange, Tolland, and Wethersfield.

Brookstone closed its locations in Danbury, Waterford and at the Mohegan Sun casino. Two Sam's Club locations in Connecticut, Orange and Manchester, also closed in 2018.

Charlotte Russe announced earlier in 2019 that it would close all of its stores including five locations in Connecticut. Also earlier this year, Family Dollar, which has 20 stores in Connecticut, said it will close as many as 390 stores and add adult beverages and other changes to some remaining locations. No specific locations have been released by Family Dollar.

And 2017, also wasn't kind to retailers either. Bob's Stores, Eastern Mountain Sports, Payless Shoes, Rue 21, JC Penney in Milford and more all closed.

Additional Job Losses In CT

The AT&T Call Center (Meriden) is planning to close by the end of the year, which will impact 46 jobs, according to records filed with the state Department of Labor.

Aramark Management Services Limited Partnership of Hartford will close by the end of June impacting 93 employees due to a loss of contract.

Earlier this year, New England Motor Freight, Inc. closed its Meriden location which resulted in 122 layoffs.