Party City To Close All Stores, Including 20 In MD: Report

MARYLAND — Party City is going out of business, closing all remaining stores in Maryland and elsewhere, ending its 40-year reign as the go-to party supplier in the country, according to CNN reporters who viewed a meeting of the company’s corporate employees Friday.

CEO Barry Litwin told corporate employees the company is “winding down” operations and Friday was their last day of employment.

“That is without question the most difficult message that I’ve ever had to deliver,” Litwin said at the meeting, which was held on a video conference call. Party City’s “very best efforts have not been enough to overcome” its financial challenges, he added, resulting in the company’s collapse.

Party City has 20 stores in Maryland at these locations:

• Annapolis: Festival at Riva, 2325 H Forest Drive
• Baltimore: Anneslie Shopping Center, 6311 York Road; Eastpoint Mall, 7929 Eastern Ave.
• Bel Air: Tollgate Marketplace, 622 Marketplace Drive
• Catonsville: Pike Park Plaza, 6500 Baltimore National Pike
• Cockeysville: Church Lane Center, 9952 York Road
• Columbia: Dobbin Center, 6181 Old Dobbin Lane
• Forestville: Centre at Forestville, 3235 Donnell Drive
• Frederick: Key Plaza, 5600 Urbana Pike, Suite C
• Gaithersburg: Kentlands Center, 295 Kentlands Boulevard
• Hagerstown: Centre at Hagerstown, 17682 Garland Groh Blvd.
• Lanham: Woodmore Towne Center, 9101 Woodmore Centre Drive, Suite 312
• Laurel
• Owings Mills
• Pasadena
• Rockville
• Salisbury
• Waldorf
• Westminster
• Wheaton

It was not immediately clear when the stores would close.

The move was expected. Several news outlets have reported the company was on the verge of collapse and had plans for its second bankruptcy filing in two years.

The Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based party supply and craft retailer emerged from its first bankruptcy in September 2023 with $800 million in debt on the balance sheets that it cannot overcome, Bloomberg News reported.

The chain was hit hard when people stopped having parties during the COVID-19 pandemic and has struggled since with supply chain issues and inflation. The company also has said a helium shortage hurt its business. The retailer also faces growing competition from big-box retailers such as Walmart and Target and holiday pop-up stores such as Spirit Halloween.

As part of Party City’s 2023 bankruptcy filing, its debt was reduced by $1 billion and equity shares were turned over to the retailer’s lenders. More than 60 stores, most of them in Kansas, New York, Missouri and Kentucky, were closed as part of the 2023 bankruptcy strategy.

Correction: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect total for the number of stores in Maryland.