I'm wondering the name and location of America's Biggest Retail Party
Store. By biggest I am interested in the physical size (square feet)
of the building. I'd also be intersted to know if this location is
the world's biggest. |
Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
10 Nov 2006 19:40 PST
tfittsy...
Despite the use of caps, I assume you're not trying to find an
actual store named, "America's Biggest Retail Party Store".
If so, there's no indication on the internet that it exists.
Diddams Amazing Party & Toy Stores is the largest party business,
followed by Party America, but I haven't been able to locate any
absolute figures for which chain might have the physical store with
the largest square footage, at least on the internet, except that:
Party America is a franchise organization, and notes their average
(and recommended) store size for a franchise to be 8-10,000 sq ft:
http://www.partyamerica.com/fr_real_estate.html
Diddams has a website, and is not a franchise. A search of their
website shows that "sq ft" or "square feet" are not mentioned at
all on their site. Since they are not a franchise, which, by their
nature, try to balance store size and inventory against affordability
for a franchisee, it seems likely that they are less constrained
by concerns about store size, and more likely to have larger stores.
But to be certain, it would probably be necessary to call or email
Diddams. Their primary location seems to be their store in Palo Alto:
Diddams Palo Alto
215 Hamilton Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 327-6204
The only email address on the site other than the webmaster's is
feedback@diddams.com
Alternately, other store locations and contact info are on this page:
http://www.diddams.com/index.cfm?action=locations
Let me know if this satisfies your interests...
sublime1-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
tfittsy-ga
on
13 Nov 2006 19:24 PST
Sorry about the caps. You are correct in assuming that I'm not
looking for a store by that name but rather I'm look for the store or
business that currently has this claim (or at least has right to it.)
I am already aware of the Party America chain as well as a few others
that have party stores in the 15-20,000 sq ft range.
I will have to call Diddams and find out why they claim to be the
largest party business and if it is due to the size of their building.
If they are the largest by sq ft then my question will be answered.
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Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
13 Nov 2006 20:26 PST
Oops...it seems I've misspoken...
I saw a sentence saying, "Party America, the nation's second
largest retail party store", in a discussion about a Diddams'
lease extension in Palo Alto, and made the assumption that
the largest was Diddams:
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/2005/2005_03_09.shoptalk09jt.shtml
Party America is elsewhere stated to be "the largest retail
chain of consumer party supplies west of the Rocky Mountains",
which suggests that Diddams, also west of the Rockies, can't
be the largest:
http://voice.paly.net/view_story.php?id=1117
Subsequent searches revealed a page on Wikipedia that states
that "Party City is the largest retail party supply store in
the United States, with more than 500 locations."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_City
Party City is also a franchiser. A search of their website
shows no mention of "sq ft" or "square feet", so it may be
helpful to contact them, as well:
Corporate Headquarters
Party City Corporation
25 Green Pond Road
Suite 1
Rockaway NJ 07866
Phone: (973) 983-0888
http://www.partycity.com/contactus.shtml
Of course, this probably means they are the largest chain
of retail party stores, and doesn't verify the physical
size.
The company's profile on Yahoo Hot Jobs notes:
"The Company's stores generally range in size from 10,000
square feet to 12,000 square feet":
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/Company-Profiles/P/Party-City-Corporation-Jobs_13081
That makes their average store larger than Party America's
typical franchises.
The Party City SEC filing for 2002 states, more specifically:
"Party City stores range in size from 6,750 to 15,560 square feet
with a typical store size between 10,000 and 12,000 square feet."
http://sec.edgar-online.com/2002/09/27/0000950123-02-009262/Section2.asp
Let me know if this satisfies your interests...
sublime1-ga
|
Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
13 Nov 2006 20:52 PST
Ah! Party Land claims to the the world's largest international
party supply franchise:
Address: 5215 Militia Hill Road, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462
Phone: 484-342-6213 during normal business hours
http://www.partyland.com/partyland.html
A search of the site reveals no mention of "sq ft" OR "square feet".
However a Google search shows several Party Land franchises being
set up in locations of around 3000 sq ft:
"sq ft" OR "square feet" "Party Land"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22sq+ft%22+OR+%22square+feet%22+%22Party+Land%22
Which probably rules them out for the largest physical store.
sublime1-ga
|
Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
13 Nov 2006 21:14 PST
Aha!...
A kind colleague has located another chain back East named Iparty,
whose quarterly report on Yahoo Business states:
"Our 51 retail stores are located predominantly in New England
with 26 stores in Massachusetts, 7 in Connecticut, 6 in New
Hampshire, 3 in Rhode Island, 3 in Maine and 1 in Vermont. We
also operate 5 stores in Florida. Our stores range in size from
approximately 8,000 square feet to 20,300 square feet."
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/060814/ipt10-q.html
Iparty's toll-free number: 800-447-2789
http://www.iparty.com/
I know I haven't provided any definitive answers, but bearing
in mind that researchers earn 75% of the fee placed on the
question, perhaps you'd consider that I've provided enough
research and information to justify posting a formal answer
and collecting the fee?
Let me know...
sublime1-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
tfittsy-ga
on
19 Nov 2006 23:19 PST
Sorry, about the delay in a reply. I suppose I may need to offer more
money for a definitive answer. I appreciate the time you put into the
research, but as you said you can't find a definitive answer. For my
needs though, nothing but a definite answer will do. Especially since
in four responses there have been four different possiblities listed.
Maybe you can let me know what you think it would be worth to find the
absoultely positively correct answer (if it is even possible to find
the answer) and I'll see if we can up our bid.
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Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
20 Nov 2006 12:14 PST
tfittsy...
Rather than "four different possibilities" it seems to me that
my latest clarification is a refinement which rules out all the
chains with stores less than 20,300 sq ft in size - that is,
Party City and probably Party America with its average size of
8-10,000 sq ft. I also thought that by now you had contacted
Diddams and would know where they fit in.
It seems clear to me, from the tailored searches I've run, and
the results they've produced, that definitive information doesn't
appear on the internet at large, and no one is making this claim.
It may be a fact which exists in a business report on the toy
industry, but such reports are typically filled with extensive
statistics and are quite expensive, and unavailable to the public
at large. Nor have I seen evidence of such a report for sale that
might include this statistic.
If the research I've done to date is worth the current price and
5 stars (or you could ignore the ranking), I could post it as an
answer and you could try posting another question at a higher price
to see if it attracts another researcher who may have access to
paid business resources that are unavailable to me. You could
reference this question in that one, so that efforts and results
are not duplicated. However, the fact that no other researcher
has posted on this question inclines me to believe that it won't
be easy to locate the answer without special resources, if then.
Part of the problem is that the word "biggest" can be used to
describe the number of stores in the chain, the amount of
sales, the number of employees, and so on. That's why my searches
focused on "square feet" OR "sq ft":
"sq ft" OR "square feet" "Party Land"
"sq ft" OR "square feet" site:www.diddams.com
"sq ft" OR "square feet" site:www.partyamerica.com
"sq ft" OR "square feet" site:www.partycity.com
"sq ft" OR "square feet" site:www.partyland.com
"sq ft" OR "square feet" site:www.partyworld.net
Diddams Party & Toy "sq ft" OR "square feet
"party city" "sq ft" OR "square feet"
"Party America store" "sq ft" or "square feet"
etc.
sublime1-ga
|
Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
20 Nov 2006 12:19 PST
tfittsy...
You said, "I am already aware of the Party America chain as well
as a few others that have party stores in the 15-20,000 sq ft range."
If you know the names of specific chains, other than the ones I've
discovered, that have stores in the 15-20,000 sq ft range, I can
use the same sort of searches to see if I can come up with more
specific data that way.
sublime1-ga
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