The party for Party City is over.

According to CNN, CEO Barry Litwin told company employees on Friday that the party supply chain is officially going out of business and is “ceasing operations” immediately.

The company has four stores in the Kansas City metropolitan area. These include Independence (19850 E. Jackson Drive), near Liberty (8373 N. Booth Ave.), Lee’s Summit (940 NE Sam Walton Lane) and Overland Park (8400 W. 135th St.).

Contacted by The Star, employees at those stores said they were told they would close sometime in February and that they would no longer accept balloon orders after Jan. 1.

The opening times are expected to remain the same until the shops close.

Party City sells balloons, costumes and other decorations. Facing increasing competition from online retailers like Amazon, larger brick-and-mortar retailers like Walmart, and seasonal pop-up stores like Spirit Halloween, the company filed for bankruptcy in January 2023 and was forced to exit bankruptcy in September. At the time, the company owned about 800 stores in the United States but had a heavy debt load of around $800 million.

The company has closed a few locations in the Kansas City area in the last two years, including one at 5808 Antioch Road in Merriam Town Center and another in the Northland at 8321 NW Roanridge Road (now it’s a Best Buy).