John Mercer, Head of Global Research and Managing Director of Data-Driven Research

Party City and Big Lots To Close All Stores: What’s the $100 Billion Elephant in the Room?

Two major US retailers, Big Lots and Party City, are closing. Big Lots stated that it will conduct an out-of-business sale following the failure of a deal to sell the company, while Party City plans to close all its stores. We argue that these closures are indicative of an underrecognized pressure on retailers, which we identify as totaling about $100 billion in scale.