We’ve got a bit of a mystery on our hands on this post-holiday Thursday. Leesburg is getting a new party supplies store — but we’re not sure where it’s going yet.
It was just last week that news broke nationwide that the Party City chain was closing down. All 700+ locations were going out of business.
Now comes word that the local party supply store known as Party Depot is closing its Ashburn location in the Ashbrook Commons shopping center and relocating to Leesburg.
We confirmed the news with a store manager who said the move would be happening sometime after the new year.
But the manager said he didn’t know the exact location. All he could tell us was that it was “somewhere near the outlet mall.” The outlet mall being the Leesburg Premium Outlets off the Leesburg Bypass at Fort Evans Road NE.
We checked around the area. There’s a roughly 2,400 s.f. space open at the Fort Evans I retail center — which is by the Home Depot. And up the street, there is a 4,500 s.f. space available at the Fort Evans Plaza II location — where the new Trader Joe’s just opened.
But if Party Depot is taking either of those spots, it will mean some downsizing. The current Party Depot is nearly 11,000 s.f.
According to its website, Party Depot has two other locations, both in Northern Virginia. One is in Springfield and one is in Alexandria.
We’ll keep checking until we get the new location — but for everyone in Leesburg who was worried about where they would get their brightly colored napkins and celebratory balloons after Party City closed, relief may be in sight.
(Image at top: Party Depot)