Getting to the Heart of Sales Trends

Valentine’s Day at Party Stores

Hanging hearts and tableware are among the most popular Valentine’s Day merchandise at party stores. For this article, shop owners and staff provided a look at what keeps their stores’ holiday hearts beating.

At Party Adventure in St. Clair Shores, Mich., Owner Dan Stevens described his top sellers for Valentine’s Day as focused on the tableware. “A lot of what we sell for the holiday are things like paper plates and napkins with patterns of hearts.” His busy store sells guest towels and cocktail napkins as well as plates, cups, and party napkins.

Along with tableware, he noted that the store does well with “hanging merchandise such as heart-shaped cut outs and dangling swirls, about 24 by 36. The swirls can be hung from doorways or the ceiling and usually have different heart shapes. Red Mylar heart-shaped balloons are also very popular.”

For Stevens, Valentine’s Day is not that important of a holiday within his selling year overall. “It’s in the top 10, but it’s not like Christmas or Halloween. It is definitely a second-tier holiday,” he attested.

Creating a terrific Valentine’s Day merchandise display is focused on the ceiling of the 5,000-square-foot store, Stevens related. “I used to do table settings, but I really don’t have the space anymore. Instead, we usually decorate the store with balloon bouquets and suspend them around the store, and I hang a lot of the merchandise like the heart spirals and paper cut outs from the ceiling. We also place them in the windows and the register area.” He noted that “The most important thing is to show people what the items look like outside of their package.” Additionally, within the store’s Valentine’s Day section, he makes sure that the merchandise is fully stocked and well-spaced.

In West Springfield, Mass., Matt Thibodeau , the manager and buyer for Party World and Other Things has a variety of unique Valentine’s Day items that make top sellers for the store. “We sell a lot of chocolate molds for lollipops and other candies, as well as melting chocolates that are used for the molds. We also sell a great deal of cake boxes decorated with Valentine’s patterns. If people are making a cake or cookies we have the boxes, boards, and pads to transport them.” In general, the store sells a lot of baking supplies, such as Val-

Continued on page 136 entine’s Day-themed spatulas as well as ingredients such as sprinkles and food coloring. “We also do well with Valentine’s Day tableware, too,” he said.

Unlike Stevens in his Michigan location, for Thibodeau, Valentine’s Day remains important for his overall sales. “It’s one of our top four holidays: Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and Valentine’s Day are the top sellers here.” He said that the strong sales are in part due to the store’s latest merchandise mix for the holiday, describing the current store offerings as more geared toward Valentine’s Day activities, such as baking and candy making, than to decorations alone.

To create a memorable Valentine’s Day merchandising display, Thibodeau agreed with Stevens with the importance of hanging decorations. “We do a lot of balloon bouquets which we place around the store as décor, and we suspend items such as streamers from the ceiling. We do that for every holiday season,” he said.

Heading south to Gulfport, Miss., at the 1,500-square-foot Par-

Taking the Pulse of a Holiday Is Valentine's Day Still Popular?

Asked whether Valentine’s Day is still very popular or waning in popularity as a holiday, the verdict is mixed at party stores throughout the United States.

At Party Adventure in St. Clair Shores, Mich., Owner Dan Stevens said he believes it’s waning a bit. “It’s not quite as popular as it used to be, no. People are just a little less into it. I think that’s because there are so many other things you can do now besides buying a Valentine’s balloon bouquet or decorating with paper hearts. You can give small gifts more easily; you can customize things on the Internet.”

In West Springfield, Mass., Matt Thibodeau, the manager and buyer for Party World and Other Things finds Valentine’s Day still very relevant. “I think last year proved that it was better than the year before. It is because we switched up what we were selling. Before it was just cutouts for windows and tableware, things like that, but now with our new selection, the cake boxes, and molds and such, it’s really become more popular for us.”

Heading south to Gulfport, Miss., at Party Girls, store Co-Owner Patti Schankin related that “Honestly, Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day are tied as our two biggest holidays. Next comes Christmas, which is a close second. I think for us, people might have got- ten tired of sending flowers and candy. The charcuterie board we offer along with the décor we can provide has been a big success for Valentine’s Day at Party Girls.”

But at Party Safari, located in Wayzata, Minn., Owner Sharon Todd described the holiday as “waning. Honestly, I’ve been here 24 years, and when we first opened the store, we used to have to bring in a separate person just to do balloon delivery for Valentine’s Day. That’s certainly not true anymore. I think it has definitely slowed down with Valentine’s merchandise. I’m sure dining out for the holiday is still going strong, though.” ❖ ty Girls, store Co-Owner Patti Schankin explained that her number one top selling Valentine’s Day item is entirely unique. “We do heart shaped charcuterie boards. They’re fully stocked with delicious treats. We were very, very successful with that idea last year. Our second top seller would be balloon garlands in heart shapes. But the charcuterie board is far and away our best seller.”

What began as a whim became a major part of the store’s Valentine’s Day sales. “I was just playing around with some ideas. I was at a Dollar Tree and saw some heart shaped decorations, and kind of went ‘hmm.’ I bought a board and came back to our store and took it apart, lined it with greenery, just some spring mix lettuce, as a background. Then I started adding things like grapes, cheese, strawberries, all in a heart shape. I took a picture of it,” she says. “We posted that on Instagram and our Facebook page, and I wrote ‘Wouldn’t you want this for Valentine’s Day?’” She laughs that it “kind of went viral. We immediately had about 200 people order it.” holiday.”

“It’s huge for us. At the party stores around here, it is like the floral industry is for the Valentine’s Day holiday. We are very busy. Frankly, February is the number one month of the year for us, because of Valentine’s Day.”

All the same, Valentine’s Day is not, however, a big sales day for Todd’s store. “It’s not really that strong, no. Our best holidays are certainly Christmas, Halloween, July 4, and New Year’s Eve. New Year’s Eve is our best single day of the year. Graduation time is probably our very best season, overall. So, with that in mind, Valentine’s Day is probably one of our least major holidays.”

- Patti Schankin, Party Girls, Gulfport, Miss.

Like Thibodeau, Schankin said Valentine’s Day is a significant holiday for the store. “It’s huge for us. At the party stores around here, it is like the floral industry is for the Valentine’s Day holiday. We are very busy. Frankly, February is the number one month of the year for us, because of Valentine’s Day.”

To create a top merchandising display, she said, “At our store we decorate all over for the month around the holiday, with displays of heart shaped and ‘XO XO’ balloon garlands all over the store. We also have a little sweetheart table over to the side that’s decorated for Valentine’s Day with a note on it that says, ‘ask us about our Valentine’s Date Night Special.’ We set it up with a nice place setting and a little picnic with the charcuterie board, wine, and everything that we can bring over to someone’s house.”

And at Party Safari, located in Wayzata, Minn., Owner Sharon Todd described her top Valentine’s Day sellers as “Balloon bouquets, hands down. We do balloon garlands, custom balloon bouquets, just about anything and everything our customers want for the

As far as display, Todd focuses on placing heart-shaped balloon arrangements around the store to create an attractive holiday look.

All in all, it appears that the party stores that are supplementing their traditional Valentine’s Day merchandise with more active experiences –whether candy making or private dining experiences –are doing the “heartiest” sales for heart’s day. ❖