In the face of the worldwide shortage of helium, Party City announced Thursday that it would close 45 stores in 2019.

The New Jersey holiday supply company did not publish the list of stores but announced that the closures will take place throughout the year.

There are 870 Party City stores in the United States and Canada, and closures account for about 5% of locations. Local media has so far reported closures in California, Illinois, Connecticut and Washington.

Party City President James Harrison said in a statement on Thursday that the company typically closes between 10-15 stores a year.

"This year, after careful review and evaluation of our store fleet, we made the decision to close more stores than usual in order to optimize our market performance, to focus on Most profitable locations and to improve the overall health of our stores, "said Harrison.

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Party City will close approximately 5% of its stores in 2019. (Photo: Party City)

The year has been tough for retailers with More store closures have already been announced than in 2018.

According to figures from the global market research firm Coresight Research, bankruptcy filings and corporate earnings reports, more than 6,500 have announced that they would close their sites.

In 2018, Coresight detected 5,528 closures, including all Toys R Us stores, as well as hundreds of Mattress Firm stores, Kmart and Sears stores, and the remaining Brookstone shopping centers.

Party City said that she was working on securing a new helium source and that a contract, subject to final approval, would provide her stores with the information they needed. helium from this summer and continuing for several years.

"We believe that this new source should substantially eliminate the deficit we are experiencing at current allocation rates and improve our ability to restore a normal level of sales of latex balloons and metal balloons," Harrison said.

Contribute: Melanie Anzidei, North Jersey Record

Follow Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko

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