When word spread like wildfire of shuttering Party City‘s across the U.S., eyes quickly turned to San Antonio’s nearly 40-year-old stores. What many didn’t realize: All the San Antonio locations have been owned and operated by one man for decades. And while you may have seen headlines about his locations closing, it’s really a time of rebuilding – under a new yet somewhat familiar name.
For nearly four decades, Don Lasseter has found success and joy helping San Antonio celebrate its holiday seasons, graduations, and big moments. When the corporate heads at Party City – the brand he’d been operating under for so many years – announced it’d be filing for bankruptcy and cutting all corporate ties, Lasseter was left with a big task. He’s been rebuilding his company from the ground up ever since.
“I want people to know they do have the local party supply store that’s been here for almost 40 years. It’s going to be geared more toward our San Antonio customers than it has been before,” Lasseter told MySA, speaking of his newly branded Party Wow! location at 5127 NW Loop 410, where a Party City sign once hung.
It’s not been easy, as he’s competing with all the other franchised locations across the country (which were independently run with a heavy hand of oversight from Party City) to get merchandise from suppliers. But it’s been a big opportunity to reach markets the prior corporate heads refused to acknowledge.
Party City, a decoration shop, has closed one of its last locations in San Antonio, Texas, at Loop 1604 and Culebra Road. Two remain as of December 2025. (Courtesy of Google Streetview)
“When I started, it was focused on season and holidays that almost felt like a reopening. [The store] would be decorated for Valentine’s Day or Mardi Graw or Halloween – a reason to bring people to the store,” Lasseter recalled of the beginning days of his business, saying corporate leaders lost focus of those seasonal offerings. “Party City turned into a corporate environment, and my hands were tied.”
Since the big announcement of the store’s former namesake, some of Lasseter’s locations have closed. Though this is really a time of rebuilding for him. He still has plans for more locations in the future, but he’s getting his mainstay location in line with his vision first.
His booming balloon business, Balloons Design and Delivery, has budget-minded customers in mind. Party Wow! is building on this momentum, keeping its place as major balloon supplier and making that front and center in the stores rework, set for grand opening under the name banner this spring.
The newly rebranded Party Wow! at Loop 410 and Evers Road is still going strong after Party City cut its corporate ties. (Zachary-Taylor Wright/MySA)
Plus, cutting ties with a corporate franchise means he can bring in San Antonio-specific merchandise for celebrations unrecognized before – like Fiesta San Antonio or graduation parties. And now, he can bring balloon arches or columns or garlands to backyards, business, corporate gigs or everything in between, finding a niche in a crowded market focused on affordability.
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All in all, Lasseter wants it to be known that the Party City name may have left San Antonio, but the local business behind it has firm roots planted in the Alamo City. Now, it’s just under a new name, Party Wow!
“I still run the same store. It’s the same heart,” Lasseter said.
This article originally published at San Antonio’s last surviving Party City gets new name, here to stay.