Party City Expands To 450 Stores Through Franchise Addition <b></b>

Rockaway, NJ-Party City Corp., America's largestparty supplies chain, announced today that its chain-wide storecount has grown to 451 stores now that The Party Supermarket Inc.agreed to join its Party City chain as a franchisee. PartySupermarket owns and operates 23 party supply stores in the Floridaand Philadelphia markets. In connection with the transaction, PartyCity sold three stores in the Florida market to Party Supermarketfor $1.2 million in cash. Party City is also closing one of itsFlorida stores. After the transaction is fully consummated, PartyCity will have 195 company-owned stores and 256 franchise stores.Gordon Keil, senior vice president of franchising at Party City,stated, "We are extremely pleased to announce the expansion ofour chain to include the stores operated by Party Supermarket. Webelieve the key strengths we bring to Party Supermarket include ourmerchandising expertise, our focus on the Halloween market, as wellas the impact of national advertising programs and branding. Thistransaction is a confirmation of our leadership in the partysupplies business." Bruce Konners, vice president of PartySupermarket, also noted, "We believe Party City offers ussignificant advantages that are not available to the smaller chainoperator. These include improved merchandise selection, centralizedadvertising production and a host of other services. As a PartyCity franchisee, we have the benefit of our knowledge of the localmarkets, together with the efficiencies only a large chain cancommand." -Business Wire