Amols' Party and Fiesta Store is located at the corner of Fredericksburg and Culebra Roads in San Antonio.

Amols’ Party and Fiesta Store is located at the corner of Fredericksburg and Culebra Roads in San Antonio.

Emma Weidmann/MySA

Where the rumbling San Marcos Street train tracks meet Culebra Road in San Antonio is a bright purple building that, while shrouded with palm trees, is hard to miss. Just look for the Spurs murals and the rainbow-colored donkey on the roof, and you’ll have found Amols’ Party and Fiesta Store.

It’s been bringing handmade Fiesta flowers (the ones you’ll see on the Battle of Flowers parade floats), wreaths, papier-mâché decor, piñatas, blouses and much more to the Alamo City for 77 years and has a front row seat to Fiesta season. Owner Jeffrey Weiss, the grandson of the founder, told MySA that much of what they supply isn’t coming from a mass-produced factory but from artisans in San Antonio, Mexico and across Latin America.

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Amols’ in San Antonio keeps partying on 77 years after founding

Founder Julian Amols opened the store on North St. Mary’s Street in 1949. Today, it’s owned by Weiss, who calls his grandfather “quite a character.” Hailing from Baltimore, Amols had a few different callings before landing in the party business. According to Weiss, he was in vaudeville, promoted boxing matches and worked in nightclubs. Amols then made his way to San Antonio, marrying Weiss’ grandmother, Hortense Adler, in 1938 and joining her family’s grocery business. 

By the ’40s, friction with the Adlers saw Amols move onto movie theater ownership and home furnishings before settling on the party store. Having grown up during the Great Depression, Weiss said his grandfather “realized that even when life was extremely hard, people still needed an outlet and would spend money on entertainment.”

Amols' sells everything from piñatas to cascarones and Fiesta blouses.

Amols’ sells everything from piñatas to cascarones and Fiesta blouses.

Emma Weidmann/MySA

The store’s current location on Fredericksburg Road isn’t its first home in the Alamo City. According to the store’s website, Amols’ moved twice in the decade after opening, but eventually set up shop on South Flores Street for the next 55 years. In 2018, Amols’ moved again, this time to a space Weiss says is four times larger than the South Flores Street store.

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Weiss, in his 50s, has been running the store for almost 35 years, though he started working there under his grandfather as a fifth grader. It’s love for his job as well as a desire to keep the family business going that brings him back to the store every day, he said. 

“There’s not too many family businesses that are around anymore,” Weiss said. “40, 50 years ago … you drive down a big street [and] most businesses were family businesses. I feel like keeping the business going for my grandfather as a family sort of legacy is very meaningful to me as well.” 

How a global pandemic shook a 77-year-old Fiesta store in San Antonio

However, the COVID-19 pandemic was a rough time for Amols’, much like other small businesses. Lockdown hit in 2020 after the store had already stocked tons of Fiesta inventory, but it also dampened the annual celebration and kept customers out. Weiss said it was “far from certain” that Amols’ would remain open. 

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Amols' has been open since 1949, but the store moved to its current location in 2018.

Amols’ has been open since 1949, but the store moved to its current location in 2018.

Emma Weidmann/MySA

Other than Fiesta, Amols’ other wheelhouse is New Year’s Eve, and the store ships decorations to hotels, clubs and restaurants across the country. Weiss said the pandemic was a “double whammy because there was no New Year’s Eve party. And what happened was a lot of our customers that were restaurants and nightclubs ended up going out of business because of the lockdowns.”

“It really put a huge hole in our business. And to be honest, we have not recovered from that to this point,” he said. The fact that Amols’ is still around is something Weiss says he’s “most proud of.” 

Amols’ keeps the Fiesta spirit alive in San Antonio

Fiesta itself has been around since 1891, though events like A Night in Old San Antonio, the Oyster Bake and La Semana Alegre have changed the face of the celebration time and time again. Watching as customers come through Amols’ to prep for their home decorations, parade floats, Fiesta outfits and DIYs, Weiss said he doesn’t see the beloved tradition sputtering out. 

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“You feel it in the store. You feel it with the employees. It’s like Christmas came around a second time,” Weiss said. “You just feel this sort of spirit, this energy in the air … It’s just that time to celebrate, and I think it just lifts everybody’s mood. Most people, I think if you ask them, they’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, I love Christmas, I love Halloween.’ I guarantee Fiesta is typically in the top three if you poll 10,000 San Antonians.”

Find it: 227 Fredericksburg Road, San Antonio, TX 78201