Party @ Display & Costume Open on East Lake Sammamish Parkway

The regional chain has relocated its Issaquah store to Lake Sammamish Parkway SE and opened its doors officially late yesterday afternoon.

The store had been in a space at Issaquah Commons on Gilman Boulevard, which will be transformed later by late this year into the new location for Issaquah’s store.

Dallas Carleton, who owns the Party @ Display & Costume’s three stores with his wife, Susie, said they’re very excited about the move. In addition to being in an area that Carleton says promises higher traffic, being able to build the store’s interior from scratch makes it a bright well-laid out location

“We got to go from the floor up and do it our way, and it merchandises wonderfully,” Carleton said.

The new store is about 9,600 square feet of space that the company is subleasing just next to Best Buy at 6000 E Lake Sammamish Parkway SE. Though it’s only 300 square feet bigger than the former location, Carleton said it “feels bigger.” They installed lighting down the center aisle so the whole store is bright and without shadows falling on the 3,000-5,000 items in stock at any given time, Carleton says. In reality, though, the store has a stock of about 50,000 items, which it can order in for customers, and sells a lot of its products online, as well as operating stores in Seattle and Everett.

Carleton said the old Issaquah Commons location is already being worked on in anticipation of Trader Joe’s, being expanded so it will have more than the 10,000 square feet required for private retailers to sell liquor in Washington; Trader Joe’s current location at Pickering Place is too small. Though Trader Joe’s corporate office has not replied to requests for information, store employees here confirmed that the store has a signed lease at Issaquah Commons, but won’t be moving until near the end of the year.

In the meantime, Party @ Display Costume is settling into its new spot. Carleton says the company decided to move when a long term lease it acquired upon buying the store in 2006, which was formerly known as Party for Less, but wanted to stay in the Issaquah community.

Susie Carleton grew up in Issaquah, and her parents originally owned the business. As business grew, they moved the flagship store to Seattle, where the company still operates a large location that focuses more on the costume side, whereas Issaquah’s store is more party themed. Dallas Carleton, a longtime customer of the store, actually met his wife at the store.

Now, the Carleton’s daughter is taking over some of the operations at the Seattle store, making the company a three-generation business and giving her parents time for a little more relaxation, but Carleton says they’ve always had fun.

“We’re in the entertainment business. If we’re not having fun, we’re not doing it right.”