Party City is auctioning 21 store leases in North Carolina, including several in the greater Charlotte area, amid the retailer’s plans to close all of its nearly 700 locations after 40 years in business.

The company, which sells a variety of party supplies, has more than 850 locations across 45 states and Puerto Rico. It's not clear if the stores will close immediately, and Party

Steve Fram’s Party City story began in the early 1990s, when he owned his own office supply store in New York.

Party City will be auctioning off the leases for all of its 695 stores in the US ahead of the retail company’s nationwide closure. In late December, the party store mainstay announced that it would be shuttering its doors after 40 years in the states due to high inflation that it couldn’t keep up with that drove customers elsewhere.