Innovative retailer The Party People sold to Sydney Party Decorations

Entrepreneur and CEO Dean Salakas has agreed to sell retailer The Party People, capping off nearly 40 years of family ownership and consistent business innovation.

Sydney Party Decorations will acquire The Party People, one of Australia’s most well-known party supply retailers, for an undisclosed sum.

The deal includes The Party People’s store in Drummoyne, Sydney, and its online operation, which boasts more than 35,000 decorations, costumes, games, and accessories.

The sale will expand the Sydney Party Decorations operation to five stores across the city, including a single The Party People location it purchased in August.

Salakas put the business up for sale in October, saying it needed further investment or new ownership to scale.

The new owners will take on a physical store that does over $2 million in trade per year, outperforming competitors in a tight economic environment.

Speaking to SmartCompany, Salakas said Sydney Party Decorations beat out several interested parties.

“It’s obviously a good business, which is why we got the exit,” said Salakas.

“They’ve taken on a pretty solid base in terms of sales, and hopefully they can continue to grow that.”

Salakas, who owns the business alongside brother Peter Salakas, will depart the business on December 17.

SmartCompany has contacted Sydney Party Decorations for comment.

We didn’t really innovate for innovation’s sake. It was like, ‘It just makes sense to help the customer.’

From small beginnings to a pioneer

The business began in 1982 when their mother, Mala Salakas, a professional clown, launched a children’s event company.

She and her father purchased retailer The Party People in 1986, taking over its store in Sans Souci, Sydney.

What could have remained a neighbourhood retailer became something bigger in 1999, when Dean Salakas, still in high school, built The Party People webstore.

It offered online click-and-collect, with Salakas calling The Party People the first Australian retailer of any kind to offer the service.

Four years later, it became one of the first local advertisers to use Google ad words, using the service when it cost just one cent per click.

“We didn’t really innovate for innovation’s sake,” Salakas said.

“It was like, ‘it just makes sense to help the customer’”.

Notably, Salakas turned down a 2015 Shark Tank Australia deal that could have injected $400,000 into the business for 40% equity.

The Party People last year launched an ‘augmented reality mirror’ helping online customers ‘try on’ costumes, experimenting with new technology at a lower cost than bigger online retailers.

While some of those services and techniques are now ubiquitous across Australian business, Salakas said The Party People’s innovations did not come easy.

“There was risk that came with a whole new way of doing business,” he said.

“So it was never easy to figure out: ‘What is this thing and how do we use it?’

“But you know, I think we probably made a lot of the right decisions along the way.”

Salakas will depart the business after spending 17 years in the CEO position.

In that time, he and his brother have watched Australians adopt Halloween, Oktoberfest, and St Patrick’s Day; turn away from disposable plastic decorations to paper alternatives; and buy party goods specifically for their Instagram aesthetic.

As for what comes next, Salakas said he is open to new opportunities, but is focused on the task at hand.

“I haven’t put a lot of thought to it, really, it’s more just like: ‘I’ve got a job to do. Let’s get that done now,’” he said.

One thing is for certain: “There will be some kind of farewell party, that’s for sure”.

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