Halloween is a retailing monster
Posted on Sunday, October 12, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — It’s crunch time for two specialty retailers operating on opposite sides of busy U. S. 71 B in Fayetteville and at shops elsewhere around the Natural State.
They sell stuff that’s ghoulish and gory, sexy and naughty and, this year at least, political. Halloween-related sales are projected to set yet another record nationally, despite the frightening news coming from Wall Street and Washington on a daily basis.
Spirit Halloween and Halloween Express stores, along with their smaller counterparts, offer customers a chance to forget about their mortgages and their dwindling 401 (k ) retirement accounts for a while, said Kathy Grannis, spokesman for the National Retail Federation.
“Families in general are aching for a little bit of relief from the realities that they face every day,” she said.
The retail group projects total spending on Halloween will reach $ 5. 77 billion this year, based on customer surveys conducted by BIGresearch of Worthington, Ohio, a consumer market research firm.
The surveys show average spending per person will reach $ 66. 54 this year, up 2. 7 percent from a year ago and 59 percent from five years ago.
That’s no surprise to Dave Mendelsohn, manager of the Spirit Halloween store at 3825 N. Shiloh Drive in Fayetteville, who says sales of Halloween decor are brisk.
“Every year we offer more, and it never seems to be enough,” he said. The company also operates a store at 105 N. Rodney Parham Road in Little Rock.
Across the highway in Fayetteville, at Halloween Express, 3722 N. Front St., manager Matthew Barnett said business is “definitely decent.” “We had people banging on the door in July when we put our sign up,” he said.
Other Halloween Express franchise outlets are at 100 N. Dixieland Road in Rogers, 801 S. Bowman Road in Little Rock, 5121 Warden Road in North Little Rock, 201 Skyline Drive in Conway and 4900 Rogers Ave. in Fort Smith.
Tina Williams of Rogers, along with husband Mike, owns the Halloween Express franchises in Northwest Arkansas, said planning for the season begins in March. Doing inventory, pricing, stocking, working the stores and keeping the books takes a full eight months of the year, she said.
They got into the business via their acquaintance with Curtis Sigretto, owner and president of the Owenton, Ky.-based company that has more than 200 locations. “We get an income out of it that is fair and decent,” Williams said. But those not familiar with the business, she said, don’t realize the work involved. “They see the cash flow, but they don’t see what’s in it,” she said. Mendelsohn and his wife, Amy, split their year between Arkansas and Denver, about six months in each. He’s in his third year managing the Arkansas stores for Spencer Gifts LLC, which operates about 650 Spirit Halloween stores nationwide. During a recent store visit, he said most of the business consisted of a few people buying a lot. As the Halloween shopping season progresses, he said, the store will see a lot of people buying a little, and in the final 10 days, “It’s just crazy busy.” PLENTY OF CHOICES Inside the stores, shoppers will find a wide range of products and prices, many featuring well-known characters from the horror and nonhorror world. At Spirit Halloween, which opened Sept. 4, a life-size, animated Hannibal Lecter, best known from the Silence of the Lambs novel and movie, or a 6-foot Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13 th movie fame, will each set you back $ 249, plus tax.
Annabelle the Headless Bride is a comparative bargain at $ 199. She has a head (severed ), and it talks, as Annabelle holds it by the hair.
On special that day was a 700-watt ground fogger for $ 49. 99.
Mendelsohn said such highpriced items appeal mostly to customers setting up a haunted house who might spend $ 1, 500 to $ 2, 000 at the store.
Among costumes, Batman and Joker are the top sellers for older children, but Hannah Montana reigns among younger girls, he said.
“The women, there’s no one costume. The sexy stuff is pretty popular these days,” he said.
That’s a section not meant for young eyes, especially those just old enough to read. Two “doctor” characters have names parents wouldn’t want to explain and are best not printed here.
The Spirit Halloween store moved into a space vacated by a former Fire Mountain restaurant, part of the Ryan’s restaurant chain. The salad bar remains, decorated for Halloween.
Finding a location with high visibility but available on a short-term lease is the hard part of the job, Mendelsohn said. “We need high, high visibility. We require heavy volume to do what we do.” At Halloween Express, the little kids room includes bunny, frog, butterfly, bear and elephant costumes. Barbie and Little Red Riding Hood are still popular. Little Dead Riding Hood is in a different room wearing a black fringe miniskirt, red-and black-striped stockings and a red hooded cape. There’s more, including the (apparently ) ever-popular cheerleader outfits. Barnett, the manager, said superheroes and police are big this year but big-ticket items were not yet selling as well as in the past. Among masks of hooded killers, various grotesque faces and Faust were Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and would-be Democratic nominee Sen. Hillary Clinton (curiously, still not marked down, but this is Arkansas ). Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama ? Near the store’s entry, wearing a purple fedora.
CHEAP FUN Mainstream retailers, of course, get into the Halloween act too, although they don’t go so over-the-top. Tara Raddohl, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said the company’s stores were set for Halloween in late September. Christmas stuff is available too.
At the company’s south Rogers store, Batman, Hannah Montana, Bratz and Spider-Man were among the featured children’s costumes, priced under $ 20.
For adults, Adam and Eve costumes were available, also just under $ 20, and men could be a Roman god or “McCracken Plumber.” Women had more options, including edgy (for Wal-Mart ) Naughty Nun, Sequin Dorothy, Sassy Nurse and Gothic Dark Angel. Plastic axes and pitchforks were a bargain at $ 3.
Mendelsohn, the Spirit Halloween store manager, said adults increasingly are getting into Halloween parties.
BIGresearch’s survey for the retail federation found that people intend to spend an average of $ 24. 17 on costumes, $ 20. 39 on Halloween candy, $ 18. 25 on decorations and $ 3. 73 on greeting cards.
The big spenders are 18- to 24-year-olds, according to the survey, with plans to spend an average $ 86. 59 each for Halloween.
“Adults are now really given a lot more options than they’ve been given before,” said Grannis, the retail group’s spokesman.
Bars and restaurants have costume parties with prizes, yard decorations have grown to life-size and animated characters have become affordable for individuals, she said.
“Halloween is a way to have cheap fun,” she said. To contact this reporter spainter@arkansasonline. com
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
