I really miss the days of when Party City was barely a thing around here. There were TONS of places in my city back in the 80s to the mid to late 90s as I did newspaper research. That sold Qualatex in bags and bulk. And of course I was too damn little to drive myself or even beg my mom to take me there. I believe Party City began in 1985 but … I feel like Unique/latex occidental didn’t arrive on scene until around 1987/88 based on what I’ve seen. Did stores mostly sell Tuftex/Gayla/Pioneer back in the late 80s?
Although there were a couple of stores that she would take me to. One was a toy store called The Kaleidoscope that sold Qualatex. Another was The Paper Cutter but I think that was just a Western NY chain and they went bankrupt in 1994. I also read in the old newspaper archives that there was one place and in 1989 they advertised a free balloon release if you won some sort of raffle. One store was right next to a liquor store and owned by the same people, but they sold Uniques. But I always begged my mom to take me there. The last store that existed around here was a place that did have bulk Qualatex and even Betallic but she used an inflator to get it to EXACTLY 11 inches no bigger, and not even Hi float. They closed in 2014. I would go there for bulk balloons. There was another store called Maines which recently went bankrupt but they only had the cheap Amscan balloons as well.
Anyone else miss these?
Why do none of these stores exist anymore and why is it only Unique/Amscan (and if you’re lucky, Pioneer) that’s widely available on shelves? Money and/or demand?
Although there were a couple of stores that she would take me to. One was a toy store called The Kaleidoscope that sold Qualatex. Another was The Paper Cutter but I think that was just a Western NY chain and they went bankrupt in 1994. I also read in the old newspaper archives that there was one place and in 1989 they advertised a free balloon release if you won some sort of raffle. One store was right next to a liquor store and owned by the same people, but they sold Uniques. But I always begged my mom to take me there. The last store that existed around here was a place that did have bulk Qualatex and even Betallic but she used an inflator to get it to EXACTLY 11 inches no bigger, and not even Hi float. They closed in 2014. I would go there for bulk balloons. There was another store called Maines which recently went bankrupt but they only had the cheap Amscan balloons as well.
Anyone else miss these?
Why do none of these stores exist anymore and why is it only Unique/Amscan (and if you’re lucky, Pioneer) that’s widely available on shelves? Money and/or demand?
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