Party City opens at Staples in Moses Lake
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 hours, 14 minutes AGO
Staples General Manager Marcelle Wood cuts the ribbon on the store’s Party City section Tuesday, flanked by Manager of Inventory Albert Wise, left, and Assistant Manager Melanie Obertacz.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
The Moses Lake Staples store has converted two aisles to Party City.
Piñatas – and the candy to put in them – are among the offerings at Party City, now located inside Staples in Moses Lake.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | November 13, 2026 3:10 AM
MOSES LAKE — When the name “Staples” comes up, parties aren’t usually the first thing that comes to people’s minds. That could change with the addition of Party City.
“Think of everything you need a balloon for, or a card,” said General Manager Marcelle Wood at the ribbon-cutting Tuesday. “We have piñatas, we have all the tableware, the napkins. We have Christmas hats and New Year’s glasses and necklaces that light up. Everything to do with any kind of season.”
Party City merged with Staples company-wide back in April, according to an announcement at the time from the company. There was a standalone Party City store previously at the Moses Lake Town Center next to Sportsman’s Warehouse from 2016 to 2020, according to Columbia Basin Herald archives.
The conversions to add Party City to Staples stores have been on a store-by-store basis, Wood said. Two aisles of the Moses Lake store have been turned over to Party City. The conversion took about two weeks, Wood said.
“We did it all during the day,” she said. “My assistant and I got in a bad car wreck the day before it started, and we still finished on time.”
The addition of Party City brought with it a little bit of a learning curve, Wood said, in that helium balloons are a large part of the party merchandise.
“I’ve never blown up a balloon in my life,” she said. “Maybe at a party, but not with a great big helium tank.”
The balloon center is available for bouquet orders, Wood said.
Party City brings with it a major addition to Staples’ capabilities as well, Wood said. Party City has a license to print images of Disney characters, a license that’s notoriously expensive and difficult to come by. This expands Staples’ in-house printing capabilities considerably, Wood said.
“We can do Spider-Man, or any princess,” she said. “Before we couldn’t even (print) those for teachers. So that’s a huge thing. You can create your kids’ birthday invitations with Spider-Man on them if you want.”
Moses Lake’s Staples store is the only one in central Washington, according to the company’s website. The addition of Party City means people will have to travel less to get celebratory supplies.
“We’re hoping that people will stay more local with their party needs, now that they don’t have to go out of town,” she said.
The Moses Lake Staples store has converted two aisles to Party City.
Piñatas – and the candy to put in them – are among the offerings at Party City, now located inside Staples in Moses Lake.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
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