Party City Will Expand to 120 More Staples Stores

The shop-in-shop partnership will add 120 locations by early December 2026, scaling the brand's retail reach.

Updated on Oct. 2, 2026 in Retail

Isometric editorial illustration of a modular retail display featuring colorful geometric shapes and spheres inside a store, representing a corporate partnership. — Party City will expand its shop-in-shop presence to 120 additional Staples locations by December 2026 as part of its ongoing retail strategy. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Will the expansion of Party City into more Staples locations improve your local party supply options?

Party City will expand its in-store presence to 120 additional Staples locations by early December 2026. This expansion builds on the existing partnership that places Party City's balloons and party supplies inside over 700 current Staples stores.

Why it matters

The continued expansion demonstrates a strategy of leveraging established retail footprints to maintain brand visibility following the company's emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Operators can observe how this shop-in-shop model attempts to drive foot traffic by consolidating event supply shopping with office and school supply purchasing.

The project will bring the brand to 120 additional locations, expanding upon the 700 stores that currently host the in-store experience. This follows the February 2025 acquisition of Party City brand assets by a New Amscan affiliate.

The players

Party City

A retailer of party supplies and decorations that currently operates as a shop-in-shop concept within hundreds of Staples locations.

Staples

A national office supplies retailer that provides the physical retail footprint for the Party City shop-in-shop experience.

New Amscan

An affiliate of Ad Populum that acquired the Party City brand and assets in February 2025.

The details

The model functions by integrating dedicated retail sections directly into the floor plans of Staples locations, streamlining the customer experience for purchasing items like banners, decorations, and balloons. Following the bankruptcy filing in January 2023 and the subsequent acquisition by New Amscan, this strategy focuses on minimizing standalone overhead while capitalizing on the existing consumer traffic at Staples, which functions as the primary distribution channel for the brand.

January 2023: Party City filed for bankruptcy.
February 2025: New Amscan acquired the Party City brand assets.
Early December 2026: The expansion to 120 additional Staples locations is scheduled for completion.

Market Landscape

The expansion follows the brand's 2023 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and its subsequent acquisition by a New Amscan affiliate. This move highlights a broader trend in retail where brands favor shop-in-shop partnerships over standalone locations to maintain market presence.

Operators should monitor the effectiveness of the shop-in-shop model as a low-overhead way to capture recurring event-based revenue. Businesses with complementary product lines may want to track these 120 new site openings as potential indicators of shifting local consumer shopping patterns.

The takeaway

The expansion illustrates how distressed brands can pivot toward partnerships to achieve scale without the burden of maintaining legacy standalone real estate. Business owners should analyze their own inventory to determine if a shared retail footprint could help offset fixed operational costs.