Trick-or-treaters spending big to get spooky Halloween

Stores carrying fall’s trendiest fashions are springing up around the Valley, but they’ll disappear shortly after the last trick-or-treater rings your doorbell on Halloween.

The number of seasonal Halloween stores selling orange tea lights, $200 costumes and everything in between are growing as consumer spending on the holiday increases.

They open in September, filling vacant retail spaces in shopping centers, and close a few days after Halloween, but the burst in demand for costumes and decoration in that short time means big business. Consumers are expected to spend $5 billion on Halloween this year, up 50 percent from $3.3 billion a year ago, according to the National Retail Federation, an industry trade group based in Washington, D.C.

Halloween fanatic Jess Acridge turned his enthusiasm for the holiday into a business four years ago when he opened one franchise of Halloween Express, a national superstore chain based in Owenton, Ky.

The 41-year-old Scottsdale resident and former general manager of Rawhide Western Town operates four of the short-term stores in Scottsdale and Phoenix this year and hopes to double the count in the Valley next year.

His major competitor in the Valley is Spirit Halloween Superstores, a chain owned by Spencer Gifts. The company has eight stores in the area.

Steady stream of buyers

Acridge said he can support opening more stores because the demand for Halloween merchandise is growing.

“I had not gone and looked at the retail growth that Halloween had experienced since I was a kid,” said Acridge, who also operates TheSkeletons Closet.com, where he sells props for haunted houses, costumes and other items. “The amount of merchandise that’s available and the amount of foot traffic we get (is surprising).”

Although the short-term stores benefit from a guaranteed buying season that brings in a steady stream of customers in October, they do have their challenges.

Finding shop space to lease for a short amount of time can be tough because shopping-center owners prefer long-term tenants. And because the locations of the stores change every year, it’s difficult to develop loyalty with customers.

Many of the temporary spaces available aren’t ready to be moved into. Electrical and lighting repairs are often needed, and the work and cost is negotiated between the tenant and landlord. One of Acridge’s stores in Scottsdale, for example, is in a former Wild Oats Market building. Before he could set up shop, Acridge had to deal with exposed piping on the sales floor, leftover from when refrigeration coolers were ripped from the store’s floor.

Still, Acridge pockets about 30 percent of his sales each season, which is on the high end of what Halloween Express told him to expect. Acridge would not say how much the stores generate.

He pays Halloween Express a royalty fee of 5 percent of gross sales. In exchange, he uses the Halloween Express name and gets access to the company’s Halloween product vendors and merchandise.

Halloween Express recommends the type and amount of products that franchisees like Acridge should buy.

What’s hot, what’s not

Each spring, Acridge does his own research by attending a Halloween trade show in Chicago where he meets with suppliers and gets a peek at the hot products for the fall.

And because the most popular costumes each year are inevitable characters from the big screen, Acridge pays attention to movies year-round. Pirates of the Caribbean costumes are best-sellers this year, he said.

“Halloween is so pop-culture oriented,” Acridge said. “Lord of the Rings is dead and Superman is king.”

Seasonal Halloween stores compete with Wal-Mart and others mass retailers but tend to have more products.

Cave Creek resident Ivory Bates, 60, was at Halloween Express in Scottsdale recently buying fake chains to complete his Frankenstein costume and was impressed with the selection at the shop.

“It has a little more than I thought,” Bates said. “The last time I went to one a few years ago, it didn’t have this much stuff.”

Acridge thinks there might even be a market for high-end Halloween merchandise. He sells costumes costing $200 or more, and for the first time this year, he is testing upscale stemware dйcor at one of his two stores in Scottsdale. He’ll expand the selection to other stores if the items sell well.

Although Acridge’s job is to get Valley residents decked out for the holiday, his intense work schedule leaves him with little time to think about his own costume.

He expects to make it home from work on Halloween just in time to trick-or-treat with his two daughters. “If I have a chance,” Acridge said, “I’ll be Captain Jack Sparrow.”