When many retailers count on Christmas and Easter to boost sales, Halloween is the most important holiday of the year for Party City (NYSE: PRTY).
The annual pagan celebration of Samhain, the ancient Celtic festival of the year's final harvest that has gone on to become a modern ritual of playing dress-up and begging for candy, represents 20% of the party supply store's annual domestic revenue, or over $400 million of its $2 billion U.S. retail total.
However, between the coronavirus pandemic and rising competition, 2020 could be the year Halloween doesn't come for Party City.