Unfortunately after a bad experience recently I have to change my review for this location from a 5 star to a 1 star because of a very rude employee-manager. We have been going there for the last few years for our hi float helium balloon orders and have had great service and have been treated well by the employees. Most recently, I went into the store to place an advanced order of hi float helium balloons for a balloon box gender reveal. The store employees who were their that day were wonderful. I explained to them the 12in balloons would be too large for the balloon box and we couldn't do a larger box because a 2-3yr old needed to be able to reach to open it to let the balloons go. So they stated they sold 9in helium quality balloons by the bag in the store and could try that size. The lady did tell me that she didn't have experience with the hi float 9 in and could not guarantee how long the 9 inch would stay floating as they typically do that for the 12in balloons. So I decided to buy 2 bags of the 9 inch helium quality balloons at the store and have her inflate 2 of the balloons with hi float helium so I could take them home and do a test round to see how long they would last before placing my large order that I needed a few days later. I left that day with the 2 test round balloons and took them home. They lasted for days and I was very pleased as they would work out perfectly for our event.
Then on Friday afternoon I went in with the bags of 9 in helium quality latex balloons to have them filled for our event just as I had done a few days prior. This time the 2 girls that helped me before were not there. I put in my request to an employee named "Laurie". After I told her the balloons I brought in were ones I purchased from the store and that they were 9 inch she immediately interrupted me and said they don't inflate the 9 inch because a previous customer placed a large order then had an issue with it and they had to refund her the money. I explained to Laurie that I already did a test round with 2 balloons a few days ago and they worked out perfectly for what I needed and that I understood the risk and guaranteed her I would not be back for a refund. Her tone of voice with me got very rude and her exact words were "I refuse to fill those up for you" and she stated she could not trust me that I wouldn't come back for a refund . She continued on with more attitude and at that point I realized she seriously did not care that I had already done the right thing by doing a test round ahead of time and was willing to take the risk. I left very disappointed as I had never had such a rude associate at this location. As a result, we were frantically changing our evening plans to find another business to help us out. We planned ahead but didn't plan on running into this issue. I was very happy with the service I received by other associates but this one just ruined my entire outlook on this store. We took our business to Party City in North Olmsted that night. Party City filled up the 9 inch balloons with hi float as requested with no problems at all and it worked out perfect for the following day just as we had wanted. I called a couple days later to let a manager know about my experience and come to find out Laurie is the manager! This is more of a disgrace and embarrassment to this company. **The regular employees are better at customer service than the manager**. In the end, we discovered that Party City in North Olmstead service and prices were better than Party Place in Elyria. Now I feel silly giving my business to Party Place all these years.