New Beginning/New Direction
Posted by Mike Gazo on
Today is a new day and today is a last day.
This is a last day because 32 years ago a very small business was started. It happened when my son was born and an idea was also born. To help people celebrate an occasion. It started with a gift basket business. A baby gift basket business. Stork Express Baby Baskets. It prospered and grew to more celebrations. It became a Celebration To Go. It helped celebrate many occasions, Births, Birthdays, Anniversaries, and we delivered the celebration in a basket, a balloon bouquet, a character delivery, (yep that was me in a Gorilla suit)...It grew...We helped people celebrate with balloon decor. Helped many occasions, from births, to milestone birthdays, a huge balloon release at the CNE Stadium to mark the last time the Blue Jays played there just before the Sky Dome opened. There are so many more memories/occasions over those years. It grew to several party stores that served Greater Toronto and Durham Region for over 30 years. It was a rush. It was fun. It was work. It was never a chore. It was something to wake up to each and every morning. It made me forget the reality of trying to run a business. A huge reality. It made work fun. This reality can happen in anything you do and love. I was just so lucky to be able to do it in this realm. Helping people celebrate.
Over the past 2 years we have looked at where we were heading. We were focused on a retail party supply store and an event rental location for our customer base. We listened very carefully to what our customers were looking for. We were heading in 2 directions. Party supplies and event rentals. The decision was not easy to make but is now complete. We are extremely sad to leave the party store business. It was fun, it was interactive with our customers. It had it's extreme highs. I will miss it very much. More so, I will miss the friendships that I made in the party industry over the past 30 years. I belonged to a buying group that helped me make decisions that got me here today. It also helped my customers with the chain prices that we could offer without being a chain. We were, and still are an independant local business that can service our customers needs just the same as the big guys. Only much more personalized.
So, this is our start. Our new day forward. Our march onward to our focus on you. You want to celebrate. You have an occasion. You have a party.
We are here for you!