Party City

Many party supplies at pretty darn low prices. New Years selection was pretty good, and if you’re having a seasonal party, I’ve seen this place offer many different things. Overall, one of the larger selections of gear for almost any party you’re thinking of.

This place has a great variety of party goods. You get inspired just walking through the aisles. I always end up spending more than I intended to. However it can get crazy busy here especially Saturday mornings. Eek! Good luck trying to find an associate that can help you.

Placed an order over the phone for balloons. The girl on the phone was a little inexperienced but worked with me. The bouquets were great and ready on time. A little on the pricey side, but I will order from them again.

In theory, I love Party City. Their site offers a ton of expected and unexpected items for a variety of traditional and obscure occasions… at relatively cheap prices. I’m usually not one for shopping outside of my fortress of solitude (online is aces), but given my tendency for procrastination I occasionally-​and unfortunately-​find myself in need to make it in person. The site is great, so the store should be too, right?! Wrong.
Now, I’m no business genius, but how these guys have 8 dumb@sses wandering around yet they 1.) don’t know what they have 2.) don’t know where things are 3.) don’t give a crap about customers, *and* still stay in business, is beyond me. And when I say 8 people, that’s not an exaggeration. I actually had plenty of time to count when I was waiting for one of them to come check me (and the 4 people behind me) out. And, the dumb@sses part may be a generalization, but I tried to get help twice and both times was met with extreme dumb@ssery. Like, seriously. I’m sorry I woke you up from your nap to ask you a question, but we *both* hate being here and uhhh *I’m* not getting paid for it.
Moving on… the aisles are also really uncomfortably small, which makes it extra fun when people bring their kids/​carts/​kids in carts. The clutter that has also been present in the last couple of times I’ve been there in the aisles does not make shopping any easier either. Also, the last couple trips it’s been hot as $hit in there. Ya know when you exhale? And you can feel a disparity with the air outside? Yeah, at Party $hitty, there isn’t that.
So, there you have it. This place sucks. I like cheap party stuff, but not if I have to trip over things to find it while I sweat my butt off and get ignored by staff. I’ll stick with online or perhaps dare try out a different location, but, not this one. Never again.

Today was my first visit into Party City.
And. I ventured in today because today is my son Nick’s 28^th
Birthday and I wanted to see what I could find for him.
Well. they have alot of great items for «milestone» birthdays
like 30, 40 and 50 but. not so much for 28.
But. this store is huge! aisles and aisles of party goods,
lotsa halloween costumes, and various other party favors.
And. I did purchase 3 Happy Birthday Balloons for Nick.
and they are really nice!
I was walking down the street with them and this guy asked me if
I wanted to float away like Mary Poppins!
Sounds good to me.
And. I was going to get a little gift bag and fill it with candy
for Nick because it was 15 pieces for $ 1.00.
But. on the way home I decided to keep the candy for myself
cause I deserve it.
For the record. I paid somewhat more for Nick’s Balloons
at Party City than I would have paid at a Dollar Store.
But. thats okay. the balloons I got were very nice.
They had really big character balloons for $ 9.99 too!
I saw a Batman one and I was tempted to get it for myself
because Batman is my favorite superhero.
Sorry to my Unilocal Friend who wears a Superman Costume.:(
And. all of the employees were very nice and helpful.
This is a good store, a great stock of merchandise is available.
It would be great for parties on a large scale as well.
Party City. I like you.
And not just because you have Batman Balloons.:)

Great store for getting your party goods, costumes and celebratory stuff. Balloons galore, theme and seasonal merchandise, and a one-​stop shop for just about any occasion.

I am writing to you to inform you about a recent negative customer experience that I had at one of your Chicago stores. Store 171: 3417 North Western Ave, Chicago, IL
On Saturday, January 26, 2013, I went to pick up a balloon order for my son’s birthday party we were hosting that day.
I arrived early, 7:55am, prior to the store opening so that I could pick up the balloons first thing. I did notice that there were a couple employees waiting in the parking lot. I then realized that the store was not scheduled to open until 8:30am. I left, ran a couple errands, and returned at 8:30am. I walked to the door and saw that the store was not open but the employees were in the store. I stood and waited for the store to open. At about 8:40am another female employee arrived at the store. The employee, who appeared to be the manager, walked up to the front door, did not speak or acknowledge I was standing at the front door, shoved herself between me and the door, opened the door with her key and then turned to lock the door making no eye contact with me. She completely ignored my presence. Unfortunately, the rude and inappropriate behavior got worse.
I then waited a couple more minutes and one of the other employees pointed out that I was still standing out outside. The lady who appeared to be the manager came to the door and in a curt manner told me that the store was having system issues. She did not greet me, offer an apology for me standing in the cold, or offer to let me in the store which should have been opened 15 minutes prior. She then closed and locked the door again before I had the time to tell her I was there to pick up a balloon order. I then had to knock on the window to tell her that I was there to pick up balloons that we had purchased in advance and requested pickup first thing Saturday morning for a late morning party. She paused for a second and through the locked door asked for my name. She came back with my balloons and abruptly threw them at me through a half opened door. They were not in a bag, nor were they weighted. I asked for a bag and some weights as she was closing and locking the door and again she said something about the system being down. She walked away. There was never any courtesy or appropriate conversation offered to me. I was so taken aback and insulted that I was speechless.
I do not know if this issue was caused by the manager being late to open the store, the systems truly being down, or other issues that I am not privy too. Regardless, I was treated poorly and with a great deal of disrespect.
In the past, my family has used your stores around the Chicago area for all of our parties. Right now, I can’t say that I will ever visit any of your stores again and certainly will not visit store 171 as long as that individual is working there. Furthermore, after the events of the day were told to others at the party, as well as, shared on social media you have lost some more customers. I have placed a copy of this letter on the Party City Facebook page and Unilocal.I hope that you and others at your company will see that the rude actions of an employee may have lasting affects in sales and brand loyalty and take the appropriate steps to assure that this type of customer treatment does not happen to other customers.
Very Disappointed Customer

What a sh&t show this place is! Even their parking lot is a crazy mess. Avoid at all costs during any major holiday! Too chaotic for me.

The location is a bit odd but it was easy to get to. It’s the only party city close to me so I had to venture out a bit. They had many party items. Staff was a bit blah. They weren’t very friendly but were informative when I needed help/​advice.
Balloons + helium are $ 1. They only last 6 – 12 hours.

Party City has a lot of plastic, made in China products for your next cheesy party. It’s a fun place to wander around and then end up spending too much money on junk that will end up in a landfill for the next 200 years.
I came here on one spring weekend morning right when they opened so that I could get some balloons. When I went to check out, the man behind the register looked at me like I was insane. I was told it was graduation weekend and it was impossible for me to get balloons. I wondered what the 5 – 6 empty-​handed, bored employees were doing standing behind the counter, or if I could get some pre-​filled balloons, but the man at the registered continued to snap at me like I was being rude by actually trying to purchase something.
I ended up going to Strack, where they kindly gave me some balloons immediately. Was that so hard?
Work on your customer service please.

Meh. Seriously.
5 negatives:
A) Costumes are extremely expensive.
B) Said expensive costumes can be made or created from vintage store materials for at MOST half the price.
C) The place is a mad house during Halloween. I know, you’re thinking that this isn’t their fault. Well, it IS their fault for not organizing a way to get the costumes that doesn’t involve people chaotically cutting in a half-​assed representation of a line
D) I got followed around like I was going to steal stuff. Maybe I was. But I couldn’t because I was being followed around.
E) They were out of hair color spray when I went last week. It was Halloween pre-​week, it should be the week where they are the most stocked!
3 positives:
A) They have lots of single candy pieces for sell.
B) There are some sick faux-​weapons for sell.
C) They have lots of single candy pieces for sell.
5 — 3 = 2 stars.
cheeers.

This is a pretty well run Party City.
Nice employees. Clean. Organized shelves. Knowledgeable service. Cheap prices.
They have everything for all of your needs, from birthday parties to wedding showers to baby showers. Kids stuff, adult stuff and TONS of piniatas for reasonable prices (as low as $ 10).
Free parking lot and conveniently located near Jewel.

I needed paper plates, napkins, plastic cups — the usual — for my graduation party last weekend. Having seen the gaudy sign every time I drive by on Western, Party City was the first place that came to mind.
They have a parking lot, which is fantastic. Inside… it’s like… a plastic rainbow exploded. They have every imaginable party favor/​necessity in every color. The aisles are overflowing. It’s almost a bit overwhelming.
After careful deliberation, we settled on some pale blue/​dark brown plates and napkins, and some really pretty cocktail napkins. The designs in the second aisle were surprisingly elegant — I actually got COMPLIMENTS on this stuff! If you’re having a party and want to go a step up from the usual red solo cups, I’d highly recommend this place. Who knew that disposable dinnerware could be so… attractive?

I’m interrupting my regularly scheduled baking to write a review of this place.
I’m participating in the Unilocal Bake Sale for Haiti tomorrow, so I came straight home after work to whip up many batches of chocolate chip cookies.
My mise-​en-​place was, well, in place, when I realized I had nothing in which to package my culinary delights. My kitchen already looks like flour exploded all over it, but I had to abandon it to go out and get something attractive to put my treats in, in order to sell for maximum dollar.
Enter Party City. I’ve never been in here before, despite driving by a minimum of 1,000,000 times in my life.
I walked in and it looked like Spongebob, Barbie, and Star Wars threw up in here. I was in a hurry, so I found the closest employee and asked him to show me small bags I could put food in. Who knew there were so many choices? There were big bags and little bags, in every color of the rainbow. I quickly settled on small clear bags with a star design.
The employee made small talk and asked me what kind of party I was having. I explained the Unilocal event and that we were having a bake sale to raise money for Haiti. He was so touched that he gave me all the bags for free. I tried to talk him out of it, but he explained that «it was in the budget to make charitable donations.» Whether that’s corporate policy or not, I didn’t question his benevolence.
So thank you, kind employee of Party City. I’m sorry I didn’t get your name, but your good deed was appreciated, especially in my rushed and frazzled state.
And if you’re reading this, please come to our Bake Sale and support this wonderful cause. Here’s hoping my cookies are edible and that the event is a huge success.

I like to start my reviews by stating that I ran against more than 1,200 Managers from many different area hotel chains for the Manager of the Year Award — Regional (Chicago) and State (IL) by the IL Dept. of Hotels and Lodging. I won both of those awards, so believe me when I say I know good service or lack thereof when i see it.
Service: I called in to say I needed 15 balloons. I was told they can not take phone orders over 12 balloons. This would have been ok if they continued with «However, if you would like to pay with a credit card we can complete your order over the phone, etc. etc.» but this did not occur. I was left with no alternatives (loss of one star). However, they went on to ask when I would be there and when I said «In 10 to 15 minutes» the young lady on the phone offered to make an exception to the 12 balloon limit for me. One extra star for that customer service.
On arrival I saw 2 girls working with two seperate guests at the balloon counter. When I approached with a few others, backup was called for on a wireless headset one employee was equipped with. It appeared she got resistance from the person on the other end of the line so she called for another person to come assist. Moments later, I had two extra people at the counter to assist. At the 20 minute mark (from the time i placed the order over the phone) my first balloon was just now being created or so I thought. When I saw another customer grabbing what I thought was my balloons they told me that is for their order — not mine. I apologized to the other shopper. It was then apparent they put my phone order on hold to assist the 2 customers that were at the counter. If managed properly, they would have called someone from the back to assist with my order before beginning with the guests at the counter and my order would have been ready when I arrived. Lost one star for poor deligation.
The price was reasonable and they have just about everything you would need as far as party supplies are concerned. Costumes too, all year round!

Free, ample parking. Super friendly and helpful staff. Everything under the moon for a home based caterer looking for everything from cake boxes to fondant to Razzles. (The Razzles are for me, not my clients!)
The only downside to this store — it’s always in a bit of disarray. It seems like they try and do their best to keep it neat and orderly; but it seems as though a small child has always had their grubby little paws all over the thing that I need — that just happens to be the last one in stock.
Oh, and avoid it here when Lane Tech lets out in the afternoon. Western is turned into a parking lot.

Aftter all that… the day of my party I opened up the $ 10 box of 100 forks, 100 knives and 100 spoons to find:
100 knives
200 forks
0 spoons

1. Parking Lot.
2. Right next to FedEx.
3. Halloween Costumes in July.
4. Mass quantities of multi-​colored paper products. (yippy, that makes me so randomly excited)
5. Bachelorette party junk galore.
Basically, if you are having ANY type of party… you probably need to stop here. Prices are good, parking lot is convenient.
Invitations at FedEx, party shizzzz at Party City=All set. :)

So you need some thing related to a party huh? Hats? Streamers? Sexy adult elf costume? Yes, this place might have the things you are looking for any party you might be throwing, except s/​m parties… They have plates, balloons, bags, everything you need and a friendly staff too. Keep an eye on your watch you could be looking around for a while.