TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – Two major brick-and-mortar stores have announced the closure of all of their locations. Both Party City and Big Lots announced this week that they are going out of business.

Local customers were disappointed.

“It’s sad,” said Party City customer Chanelle Wright. “It’s a little bit like, when you have these needs, where do you go?”

Party City’s CEO announced Friday that the company will be closing all locations after more than 40 years in business. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2023. While it gained enough stability to bounce back earlier this year, it still wasn’t enough.

Big Lots also failed to overcome its financial difficulties after filing for bankruptcy in September. Big Lots said in a news release that it is preparing to conduct out-of-store sales at all remaining stores after its expected sale to Nexus Capital Management fell through.

A Big Lots shopper, Randy Rowe, said he shopped at the Defiance store until it closed. He started shopping at the Airport Hwy. location, but now that store will also be closing.

“It sucks,” Rowe said.

He said he bought furniture, knick-knacks and Christmas items from the retailer.

With the closures looming, Party City laid off all of the company’s employees on Friday. Local jobs are not far behind. Other major news outlets have reported that some locations received letters from companies telling them February 28 would be their last day.

13 Action News reached out to Party City to confirm which days the Toledo locations will close, but they have not yet responded.

This comes at a time when online shopping is at an all-time high.

According to Capital One, 2.71 billion people worldwide will shop online in 2024.

Some customers said that while online shopping is nice, sometimes in-store shopping is better.

“I shop online too, don’t get me wrong,” Wright said. “But having the convenience of being able to just go to the store is much better than just waiting online and hoping and praying that the order is right.”

As for Big Lots locations, the exact date of store closures is not yet known.

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