Party City hiring 20K ahead of Halloween crunch

This browser does not support the video element.

ROCKAWAY, N.J. — Party City is banking on a frightfully festive Halloween season, with plans to hire 20,000 temporary workers.

>> Read more trending news

That figure represents roughly 3,000 more workers than the Rockaway, New Jersey-based revelry store brought on to handle the 2021 surge, KVIA-TV reported, indicating Party City brass anticipate an uptick in foot traffic as pandemic-era restrictions vanish faster than bowls of candy marked “take one.”

According to KVIA, new positions – including team leaders, supervisors, sales and stock associates and cashiers – will be available in more than 750 Party City retail stores nationwide and in 150 Halloween City pop-up locations.

“There’s been a lot of pent-up demand, and people are so ready to celebrate,” Odette Welling, vice president of merchandising at Party City, told CNN.

The chain, which specializes in sales of themed party decorations, costumes, clothing and other products, plans to increase the number of pop-ups opened in 2022, boosting the need for additional staff, CNN reported.

According to the company, between 10% and 15% of the seasonal hires will be offered permanent positions at the season’s end, KVIA reported.

Meanwhile. Welling told CNN that, to date, a 7-foot animatronic talking lava demon with fog effect and an animatronic zombie raccoon that pops out of a trash can, are the most popular decorative items among early shoppers.