SEAMS PROMISING

Mexico-based fabric chain to open first San Antonio store

Parisina will be San Antonio's first general-purpose fabric store since JoAnn closed.

A new crafts and fabric chain might soothe some of San Antonio’s heartache over breaking up with JoAnn. Mexico-based hobby giant Parisina is opening its first Alamo City location at 25 NE I-410 Loop.

If that address sounds familiar, it’s because the building once housed a JoAnn store before the company went belly up in 2025 and closed all of its locations. Now Parisina is testing the Texas market to see if it can have better luck.

“San Antonio, something colorful is coming your way!” wrote the company in an Instagram teaser that did not share an estimated opening date. Parisina did, however, provide a WhatsApp link for job applications, indicating the outpost could debut in weeks. And signage has appeared on its North Side storefront.

Although it has more than 600 locations in its native country, Parisina is a newcomer to the U.S. It first crossed the border with a McAllen store in late 2025, followed by its Spring debut this May.

Parisina was founded in 1933 when Juan José Sierra opened a market in Mexico City’s Historic Center. After purchasing clothing retailer Casa García in the ‘90s, it began rapidly expanding and is now the country’s largest chain of its kind.

The retailer’s stock leans closest to Hobby Lobby, incorporating seasonal decor. Comparatively, less shelf space is devoted to general art supplies and more to needlecraft like crocheting, knitting, and sewing. The stores also sell some goods that are closer to Bed Bath & Beyond, like bathroom accessories and cookware sets.

More importantly to sewers, the opening of Parisina will bring a wide array of affordable fabrics for crafts, clothesmaking, and home projects. Since JoAnn closed, San Antonio has been without a general-purpose fabric store, with Hobby Lobby and Michaels offering only a small selection, Fabrictopia devoted to finer yardages, and others focused on quilting or upholstery.

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Fab-boo-lous

New app helps San Antonio families map their Halloween candy haul

Photo by Charles Parker/ Pexels

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There's nothing more tragic than taking the kids out trick-or-treating, only to encounter a long stretch of dark houses with no candy in sight. A new San Antonio app, Dulce Halloween, has found a way to fix that.

Alamo City is the app’s first U.S. test market after launching in Mexico in 2024. In 2025, it found a wide audience, reaching more than 100,000 downloads. Cesar Briones, cofounder of San Antonio’s Herospace Digital Consulting, was part of the development team.

The concept behind Dulce Halloween is simple. Via the interactive, free app, families can find homes across the city that are giving out candy. The app also lets users plan their trick-or-treat route, search for decorated houses, and participate in local Halloween costume contests and associated activities.

For parents, one of the big benefits is safety. The app uses GPS to plan safe routes while maximizing their kids’ haul. Other users can add their house on the map, load photos of their spooky decorations, and even set hours when the candy store is open.

Since the app is new to the U.S., the current map is sparse, but — if the Mexico release is any indication — that’s likely to change as word-of-mouth gets around. After all, no one wants to spend $100 on the good minis without a plan to give most of it away.

The Dulce Halloween app is free to download on Google Play or Apple’s App Store, but it does contain a few ads. Some features, like specialty badges inspired by Hollywood villains or Día de los Muertos icons, are available for purchase.

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