More Stores Open for the Halloween

The recession hasn't been so scary for Halloween stores. In fact, they're finding better haunts in the graveyards of failed retailers.


MARY ALTAFFER/The Associated Press

A family tries on costumes at a Spirit Halloween store in New York. Because Halloween falls on a Saturday this year - the best day, according to those in the industry, because more adults throw parties - retailers are hoping for brisk business.
The seasonal sellers are taking advantage of the spate of retail bankruptcies and closings to open more – and larger – temporary stores this year in better locations. It adds up to an aggressive bid to capture cautious consumers' dollars in an industry that has grown rapidly over the past decade.

Halloween USA increased the number of temporary stores it has opened in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to 22 from 14 last year. The company has taken over a vacant Linens 'N Things on MacArthur Boulevard in Irving, space on Mockingbird Lane in Dallas that had been a Horchow Finale and a former Old Navy on Josey Lane in Carrollton.

Other stores are open in Arlington, Cedar Hill, Garland, Grapevine, Hurst, Irving, McKinney, Richardson and Plano.

Because Halloween falls on a Saturday this year – the best day, according to those in the industry, because more adults throw parties – retailers are hoping for brisk business.

Despite the recession, market research firm IBISWorld Inc. expects 2009 sales for costumes and decor to rise 3 percent from last year, to $3.8 billion. Pennsylvania-based Halloween Adventure CEO Joe Purifico confirmed sales were "trending up" as the company headed into the important two-week stretch before Halloween.

But seasonal retailers – which make about 70 percent of their sales in September and October – face tough competition for market share from lower-priced retailers such as Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., so visibility is key.

The stores say they're not really saving much on rent, but spending similar amounts to get better locations.

Empty retail space from the closings of Circuit City, Mervyns, Linens 'N Things and Home Depot's Expo Design Center have given the temporary stores plenty to work with.

Suzanne Mulvee, senior economist at Property & Portfolio Research, estimates that there is 269 million more square feet in vacant retail space – the equivalent of about more than 5,000 full-size Best Buys – across the country compared with a year ago. That gives retailers bargaining power, she said.

"A year ago they were in the corner of the mall, where no one went to," she said. "Now there are all these choices."

The Associated Press and staff writer Maria Halkias contributed to this report.

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