you folks know what Party City is, right? of course you do! it's the world's most okay party supply store, and i visited it for the first time about a month ago now. perfect timing too, because Party City is going to close all of its locations VERY soon. i mean, being a store that sells party supplies in a post-pandemic world is not gonna be the easiest lifestyle to live, especially when everyone returns the party supplies they bought once the party is over anyways. i was in a pretty rough state when i went into the store, i'd been in a constant state of dissociation for the last two days (still am, by the way) and everything felt like a total fever dream. it didn't help that the store looked like the most depressing establishment i'd ever been in, all the shelves were totally barren, the place was empty save for me and my roommate, and everything was 75% off or more. when you're in an establishment that's closing forever like this, you always have to get at least something, and so we did. i saw in the costume section that they had fishnet gloves of every color, and i desperately wanted some in black. alas, it was not meant to be, all of the black ones were completely sold out. so instead, i settled for a pair of wrist-length neon green ones, and elbow-length purple ones, each bought for a steal at 75 cents per pair. while we were there i also got a pack of Red Vines for 50 cents, and my roommate got a huge bag of sweet'n'sour Hi-Chews for a pretty good price as well. (i don't remember the exact price, but it was definitely under two dollars.) the poor retail workers that rung us up looked so broken, i really felt for them in that moment. as a former GameStop employee, i know what it feels like to work at a place that could shut down at any minute, but Party City was well beyond the point that GameStop ever was. to those Party City employees, i hope employment finds you soon!!