The Party Box closing: Landmark Lodi party store going out of business

The Party Box, a store that was so much of a North Jersey institution that it landed a featured role on "The Sopranos," has announced it is going out of business.

The party supplies store, at 240 Route 17 in Lodi, is next to another favorite "Sopranos" filming spot, the Satin Dolls nightclub, known on the show as the Bada Bing strip club.

The store was closed Tuesday and will be closed Wednesday to prepare for what it is calling a "retirement sale."

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The Weil family, which owns the store, began selling party supplies in a smaller location in Rochelle Park in the 1960s, then relocated to the Lodi building. The store quickly proved to be a hit with North Jersey homeowners during the boom years of suburbia and do-it-yourself birthday parties, First Communion and christening celebrations and bridal showers. The family estimated in 1999 that the store helped its customers host 100,000 parties each year. That adds up to 5 million parties over 50 years.

The store developed a niche specialty — personalized wedding favors — and over the years printed the names of millions of brides and grooms on ribbons, matchbooks and wine glasses. It also became the go-to spot for prom favors, Sweet Sixteen decorations and, in recent years, elaborate balloon arches.

The store also did a big business each year at Halloween, setting up makeshift dressing rooms for costumes and filling the aisles with decorations and Halloween supplies.

The store was able to survive against competition from a number of party supply chains, and it outlasted several stores that have closed in the past two decades.

Steve Weil, the current owner, took over the store from the founder, his father, the late Seymour Weil. Weil and his wife, Bena, have decided to retire, and posted signs announcing a retirement sale this week. The store is expected to close in the spring.

In the "Sopranos" episode featuring the Party Box, the store was where mobster Big Pussy met with his FBI informant and was spotted by an Elvis impersonator with mob ties.