Party City Closing: Game Over for UWS Store

Party City, the party supply store that helped fuel celebrations for generations, is closing all its stores after nearly 40 years in business. Its outlet at 660 Columbus Avenue (at the corner of West 92nd Street) will soon be no more.

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In an internal letter obtained by The New York Times, Party City stated that inflation and changes in customer spending forced the company, founded in New Jersey in 1986, to shut down more than 700 stores. Store managers were informed that a “wind-down process” would begin, lasting until February 28, 2025. The letter also noted that managers who chose to remain working would retain their pay and benefits until the closure date.

Party City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2023, canceling nearly $1 billion in debts while keeping most of their stores open. They exited bankruptcy in September 2024, a month after Barry Litwin became the company’s president and CEO.

“The decision was made following exhaustive efforts by the Company to find a path forward that would allow continued operations in an immensely challenging environment driven by inflation pressures on costs and consumer spending, among other factors,” store owner Party City Holdco Inc. said in a statement to NPR. In 2024, there were 7,327 store closures and 5,919 store openings, according to a Coresight Research report.

Earlier this month, Gothamist reported that national retailers are still struggling to sustain their brick-and-mortar locations in New York City, citing a report from the Center for an Urban Future that highlights customer preferences for online shopping over in-person buying. The number of chain stores across the five boroughs dropped 1.3% over the past year—the fifth decline in the last seven years. In 2024, the city lost 109 of its 8,149 chain stores, with 10 chain retailers leaving NYC entirely, including TGI Fridays, Oakley, and La Perla. Dunkin’ Donuts remains the chain with the most locations across all five boroughs for the 17th consecutive year, with 626 stores.

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“Every year we seem to be seeing more clothing stores, shoe stores, and stores selling cosmetics and jewelry cutting back and reducing their footprint in the city because it’s just so hard to compete with e-commerce these days,” said Jonathan Bowler, the Center for an Urban Future’s executive director and co-author of the study.

ILTUWS reached out to the Party City on the Upper West Side to inquire about its official closing date. “Not today,” said a staffer.

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