The party is over at Party City, according to CNN, which reported on Friday that the party supplies retailer plans to shutter its more than 700 stores nationwide at the end of February. More than a dozen of the company's stores are located in the Bay Area. "I’m really bummed. That’s a shocker," said customer Ashwin, who was shopping for his 3-year-old son's birthday at a Party City in Fremont when he learned the deflating news. "I hope they change their mind.
In that call, CNN says employees were told they would not receive severance. Litwin reportedly said the company had "done everything possible that we could to try to avoid this outcome." The CEO apparently blamed the closure on financial challenges in part created by company debt and inflation."I was surprised when I walked in here that there not many aisles of anything," said customer Quita Craft of Union City.The news comes 14 months after the company exited bankruptcy.