A LEGACY party company has announced that it’s closing down after almost eight decades in business.
Litin’s Party Value, a staple in Minneapolis, Minnesota, announced that this will be its final summer open before it shuts down for good.
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“It is with great sadness that we announce the closing of our party and catering supplies warehouse, which has been an iconic staple in Minneapolis,” the store wrote on its website.
On Tuesday, June 11th, the store started its huge blowout sale, which shaved up to 50% off of products.
Everything sold is final sale, and most products can be brought in-store.
Read more on Store Closure
Those who are looking into balloons specifically have the option to place an order online and pick it up in-store.
While a closing date has not been set yet, owner Ned Litin believes they will be able to close the store by the end of July.
The owner admitted that he thought about selling his business, but his broker told him he would only receive an offer for his inventory.
Instead, he decided to keep the store running for a while longer.
“This way, I can continue to pay my rent, keep my employees employed, and keep servicing my customers,” Litin told Star Tribune.
Litin wanted to stay open one more summer, serving the Minneapolis community during its huge party season.
“I was looking out into the future and said, ‘If I can just hold on through one more graduation season, once we got past that point, we would start the store-closing sale,'” he said.
‘DOUBLE-WHAMMY’
When speaking on the demise of his company, he revealed that the Covid-19 pandemic caused a major issue for the company.
“We sustained a double-whammy from the pandemic,” said Litin in a press release.
“It not only upended plans for parties and social gatherings, but it also vastly changed the way consumers shop.”
The History of Litin’s Party Value
The store has been around for almost eight decades and carries a rich history behind it.
Litin’s dad, Don Litin, started Litin Paper Company in 1947 as a wholesaler of paper products for companies in shipping and packaging, janitorial, food service, and office products.
1966, the family decided to take everything to the next step and open the warehouse to the public.
Ned Litin started working on the party store in 1977, which would eventually lead to him taking over the family business.
While he had commercial clients, sales at Litin’s Party Value was the company’s main source of income until the pandemic.
“It became a real challenge for us to stay relevant in an ever-changing market, trying not only to survive but thrive, alongside the corporate retail giants.”
Litin told the Tribune that the store received a boost in business in 2021 when people began gathering together again, but the excitement didn’t last.
As the year went on, people began ordering their supplies through other online retailers, and the competition for wholesale contracts began to get more steep.
“It absolutely killed the business,” he told the publication.
He said that customers have been heartbroken by the news.
“The thing that endeared us to our customers were not only did we have fun, great products, but we really went out of our way to take good care of our customers,” Litin said.
“That extra element really allowed me to survive through a lot of different business evolutions that added more and more competition to our fight to survive.”
However, now that the store is closing, Litin is looking to retire at 69 and focusing on rehabilitating from a ski injury he got in 2023.