s from having a strong online presence, and I think the online presence benefits from a strong bricks-and-mortar presence, so [we would be] looking at opening more stores.”  Founded by his mother, Mala Salakas, and grandfather, Peter Nikolas, in 1986, The Party People has grown into a well-respected retailer that punches well above its weight in the Australian industry.  The business was named ‘Independent Retailer of the Year’ and ‘Online Retailer of the Year’ in 2018 by the Australian Retailers Association, ‘Small Retailer of the Year’ by the National Retail Association in 2019 and it took home Inside Retail’s CX of the Year award for small retailers this year.  “Just being able to innovate as well as, if not better than, some of the largest retailers in Australia while being a small business” is a point of pride for Salakas, who took over the business with his brother, Peter Salakas, in 2007.  “We want to do big things” And yet, industry accolades don’t pay the bills. About six months ago, Salakas and his brother sold Mega Party Warehouse, a business they had acquired in 2022, for a “reasonable” profit; however, it isn’t enough to fund their vision for The Party People. In an exclusive interview last week with Inside Retail, Salakas revealed he and his brother are seeking external investment in The Party People. Failing that, they are open to selling the business outright.  “If we’re not going to grow this massively through investment, we’re not motivated to stay on with the business as a small-to-medium business. We want to do big things,” he said. Besides re-platforming and opening new stores, he sees an opportunity for The Party People to provide more of the information and services people seek when throwing parties, not just the products. He called it “facilitating the whole journey of the party”.  While it’s still early days, Salakas said he and his brother are in talks with multiple potential investors and he hopes one of them will come on board so he can continue working in the business.  “My preference is not to exit,” he said. “I’d prefer to stay in the business and bring on a co-investor and grow it. I do love the business we’re in, and I do see a big future for it.”  “There’s no ‘keep going’ award” Reflecting on the possibility of selling The Party People, Salakas said not enough people understand the sacrifice it takes to run a small business for nearly 40 years.  “When your market’s falling away, it gets very challenging because small businesses need a profit to survive, so a lot of them do it really tough in terms of not taking wages. That’s just what has to be done,” he said.  “When a large business has a 20 per cent drop in sales, they can just chew through funds, whereas a small business has to dig deep and sack people they’ve been friends with for years and work twice as hard.” While The Party People is feeling the impact of the current cost-of-living crisis, it’s nothing compared to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008.  “That was a really tough period,” Salakas said. “Your health gets impacted, you start working long hours and you start questioning why you’re even doing it. You just have to have the grit to get through it.” He noted the industry is quick to celebrate innovations and startups, but “there’s no ‘keep going’ award”.  “There’ve been so many online retailers that have come and gone, and we’ve always been there. We may not have grown as quickly as our peers, but we also haven’t failed,” he said. “To have run this business and kept it going for so many years in the face of Covid, the GFC, all these things…to still be operating and not be in a position where have to wind it up, we can sell an asset, that for me is a personal achievement.”