Irish retailer partners with US party supplier

AN Irish retail company has partnered with a listed American company to bring a party supplies business to Ireland.

Creative Group, which is behind seasonal pop-up shop business Halloween HQ, will open a Party City outlet after joining up with listed speciality retailer Amscan.

Amscan has 900 Party City stores in the US, with the large-format shops typically located in retail parks.

The first Party City outside the US will open in Dublin early next month in a 10,000 sq ft unit in Liffey Valley retail park.

Creative Group opened its first Halloween HQ popup in Cork in 2012 and the following year opened up 12 stores, including one in Dublin’s Dundrum Town Centre. In 2015, it entered the UK market. It is owned by Vincent Lynch and Stuart and Declan Fagan.

Lynch said the company would continue to open Halloween HQ stores and would also enter the European market. “There will probably be around 30 stores between Ireland and the UK this year and we will probably have six stores in Northern Europe.”

Lynch said the Party City offering would be “a store of the future” for parties, introducing new concepts to Ireland and offering in-store experiences.

He said if the concept works in Ireland, it would expand Party City into Europe.