The Question of Selling Candy

Candy adds a sweet touch to any celebration, but not all party retailers carry it.

“We do not sell candy,” Krekelberg said. “We looked into selling the colored M&M’s and were told we had to buy the whole display, including all the colors. It was quite an expense to get into them. We do sell bags of the round, pink candy-coated chocolates for baby showers, and not show the proportion of the design. With the number balloons, the parties are smaller, but people are spending more on the décor. They want to make a great photo background— that’s been really popular. There are many trends I’ve seen and have tried, but they haven’t caught on here. I try new things cautiously, so I’m always trying something new. I’m not one to go all in. I’ll try something small and see how it goes. You have to see what your market does. You have to try to find what works with where you are. Know your market, and you learn it through trial and error. You have to change with the times, and the economic times. It’s been an interesting year and a half, two years, but our sales are back to their pre-2019 levels.”

Besides balloons, party retailers note strong sales in paper goods and flatware. “I [sell] a lot of solid colors in the plates and napkins to mix and match and coordinate,” Latani said. “Sometimes you need a plain place setting because too much pattern gets too busy.” Retailers said the licensed products, especially for kids’ birthday parties, is still in high demand. “Best-selling themes are unicorns, dinosaurs, Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Milestone birthdays are also at the top of the list. We’ve also seen strong sales in seasonal this year, such as graduation parties, patriotic, and themes such as luau,” Wellman noted. As far as overall trends, Wellman said he is just seeing a huge demand for balloons and balloon bouquets. “We’re also seeing an increase in customers doing their own balloon art décor they seem to do well.”

Yesberg has been part of the M&M ColorWorks program, but has been notified about changes to the program. “We were notified the company will be discontinuing selling to stores,” she said. “We want to take out the ColorWorks display and put in more high-end gifts. Our goal is to have a bigger section of more specialty candy. We do have a little bit of candy, but will be expanding our selection.”

Latani sold candy for a time, but discontinued it due to poor sales. She said she does sell bagged candy for pinatas.

Wellman said, “We sell a small amount of candy. Specialty candy is an area I will expand as we are seeing growth in the candy we sell and more customers requesting candy.” ❖ and looking for supplies to create their own decorations,” he added.

In Krekelberg’s market, he said, “I’m not really seeing anything new as far as trends. People are getting back into larger parties. During COVID people were doing the sidewalk drive-bys. We didn’t sell a lot of packaged items for a year because nobody was throwing in-house parties. Now people are getting back into having parties for 30, 40 people, renting rooms, setting it up. We’ve been doing a lot more deliveries for balloons. [For themes] luau and casino are not as big as they used to be. People are keeping it pretty simple for birthdays, but the licensing is still quite popular.” For party supplies, Yesberg said, “We do a lot of décor. We may not have the lowest price on tableware, so customers may take that business elsewhere, but they come here for décor, whether they buy it here or we create it here. Anything from centerpieces to demi-arch garlands or pre-packaged items to go with a theme.”

Although the scope of many parties has gotten smaller, retailers are noticing customers are celebrating more milestones, from Sweet Sixteen birthdays to life milestones like retirement. “Customers are reverting back to the traditional and having smaller parties,” Latani said, “but with weddings, the brides are going big! I’m talking 125 or 200 people. People want to get out—they are tired of being in the house.” Latani noted she is also seeing more memorial services, which is always difficult. “I’m seeing them anywhere from 25 to 150 people. I can’t tell you how many people have come in for patriotic plates and napkins. We’re doing a lot of memorial services,” she said.

Party goods and event rental businesses were among the hardest hit by the COVID-related shutdowns and event cancellations. In 2021, events of all sizes are getting rescheduled, causing an uptick in business, and retailers said they have learned important lessons over the past year. Latani said she is more “moneyconscious. I don’t have a lot of overhead. I try not to order too much and have more than I need.” Wellman noted, “We have remained open and have modified operations as needed to account for staffing issues, cleaning et cetera. For example, due to tight staffing, we are open less hours than prior to 2020, which will probably continue for the near future.” He added, “As with other industries, supply chain issues require more time finding and keeping inventory in the store is a priority. Prior to 2020, we were expanding our balloon operations to include more balloon art (arches, decorating, et cetera) but have put that on hold because of the tight staffing and continue to push our retail side of balloons.” Yesberg said the last year made her take a long look at every aspect of her business. “It’s really made us look at what sells and what doesn’t sell. I’ve been in business for 35 years, and there’s a lot of the same old, same old. [The past year] made me really look at what’s working, and we’ve really streamlined our operation. For instance, we probably had too many employees at one point. I’ve seen if you stay busy and do your job, you don’t need as many people. You’re more efficient.”