Sam Taylor

Melissa Campanelli is Editor-in-Chief of Total Retail. She is an industry veteran, having covered all aspects of retail, tech, digital, e-commerce, and marketing over the past 20 years. Melissa is also the co-founder of the Women in Retail Leadership Circle.

Hidden behind a disguise so effective he was unrecognizable by even close colleagues, Oriental Trading Company CEO Sam Taylor recently went undercover to learn more about his company. The results of this look inside the nation's largest direct retailer of party supplies, arts and crafts, toys, and novelties will air Friday, March 9 on CBS's hit series "Undercover Boss."

The party supplies distributor aims to reduce its funded debt by more than 70% to $200 million. Carlyle Group-backed party supplies distributor Oriental Trading Co. of Omaha has filed a pre-packaged bankruptcy petition that it said would reduce its funded debt by more than 70% to $200 million. Carlyle invested in Oriental Trading in 2006, acquiring a majority stake from Brentwood Associates, which held onto a 25% holding. Terms of the deal were undisclosed but published reports valued the transaction at close to $1 billion. Calls into the company were not returned by press time. In its Chapter 11

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