More than 1,150 pop-up Spirit Halloween stores across the country have opened in preparation for the 2015 Halloween season. The popular chain stocks everything needed for a fun and spooky Halloween, including home décor, makeup, collectibles, props, and costumes for all ages. Fan favorites and pop culture costumes, from trends like “Star Wars,” “Orange is the New Black,” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” are expected to be hot sellers this year.
In each store, gory scenes filled with animatronic creatures provide an interactive experience for shoppers while they search for the perfect curly wig or fog machine. The planning, design and production of elaborate displays like “The Spirit Swamp” and “Spirit Station Z” can take a full year or more. The Spirit Halloween staff, which normally numbers in the hundreds, can expand to as many as 20,000 employees beginning in June to prepare for the busy season.
Spirit Halloween’s seasonal business model stands out in the retail industry, allowing it to earn its entire revenue for the year in less than three months during its rollout of pop-up shops in strip malls and free-standing stores in the United States and Canada. Employees scout possible locations throughout the year and make their selections by summertime; high visibility is a crucial factor. Merchandise begins arriving in mid-August, and stores remain open through early November. The chain also offers an additional retail channel through its year-round online store.
Halloween has evolved into a lucrative business for the retail industry in recent years due to increasing adult interest in the holiday. According to retail trends data from the National Retail Federation, Americans spent about $7.4 billion on Halloween costumes, decorations, and candy in 2014. Millennials (consumers ages 18-34) are more likely than any other demographic to participate in Halloween festivities.
Spirit Halloween launched in San Francisco in 1983 and is now headquartered in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. Visit www.spirithalloween.com for more information.
