Spirit Halloween
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![]() Spirit Halloween store in a former Pier 1 store in Valdosta, Georgia. | |
Type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Founded | 1983 |
Founder | Joseph Marver |
Headquarters | Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, U.S. |
Number of locations | 1,400+ |
Area served | North America |
Products |
|
Parent | Spencer Gifts (1999–present) |
Website | www![]() |
Spirit Halloween, LLC is an American seasonal retailer that supplies Halloween decorations, costumes, props and accessories. It is the country's largest Halloween retailer.[1] It was founded in 1983 and is based in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.[2] In 1999, the store had 60 seasonal locations and was purchased by Spencer Gifts.[3][4] Today, the pop-up retailer has over a thousand locations across the United States and Canada.
Business operations[]
During the Halloween season, Spirit operates over 1,400 store locations in North America.[5] The Spirit Halloween website is open year-round, offering its in-store products online. The store carries decor manufactured by Tekky Design, Gemmy, Yu Jun, Seasonal Visions International, Crazy Create, NewRaySun, PartyTime Costume, Seasons USA, Morbid Enterprises, and more. Many decorations are exclusive to Spirit.
In early summer Spirit Halloween typically puts out teaser videos on social media and YouTube to create excitement for new items. A few days later the videos are followed by another one officially revealing and announcing the item.[6]
The retailer typically makes use of vacant retail space. The stores typically operate for 60 to 90 days, opening sometime in early to mid-August and usually closing two or three days after Halloween.[2][5][7]
Stores typically discard unsold merchandise, instead of warehousing for the next season, to keep costs low. Given that there is no price on waste generation, the company is able to externalize those costs to the larger society, which helps it stay profitable. An estimated 80% of the materials used to make these costumes is derived from plastic.[8]
Spirit Halloween's start[]
Joe Marver created the Spirit Halloween business model, a pop-up store catering to Halloween revelers.[9] Starting with his first pop-up location in the Castro Valley Mall in 1984,[2][10] he grew Spirit Halloween to 60 seasonal stores nationwide[11] before it was acquired in 1999. His approach to short-term leases, locations, and the stocking of widely varied merchandise was novel in the Halloween retail sector.
Today, the Spirit Halloween network of pop-up stores is bigger than any other specialty retailer in the category, with new ownership expanding Marver’s original concept to more than 1,100 locations across North America. Spirit Halloween serves a Halloween consumer market estimated at $8.4 billion dollars yearly, according to the National Retail Federation.[10] Despite online shopping creating challenges for brick and mortar stores, Spirit thrives with in person purchases-possibly due to its relatively lower overhead with seasonal rentals of the physical spaces.
Spirit of Children[]
In 2006, Spirit launched a program called Spirit of Children to raise money in-store for children's hospitals. The program annually celebrates Halloween at hospital locations, supplying costumes and decorations for the events. Since 2007, Spirit of Children has raised over $29 million in donations.[12]
Health Canada Recall[]
On October 21, 2016, Health Canada recalled eight products from Spirit Halloween, for fire hazards and choking hazards.[13] Despite promising to cease sales, Health Canada visited 45 stores across Canada and found that 23 stores continued to sell products that had been recalled.[14]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ news@derbyinformer.com, INFORMER STAFF (2021-10-13). "Spirit Halloween scares up business in Derby". Retrieved 2021-10-31.
- ^ a b c Biron, Bethany (2021-10-28). "The rise of Spirit Halloween: How the Spencer Gifts-owned chain took over American strip malls and turned itself into a meme of the Retail Apocalypse". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
- ^ Trevision, Catherine (October 22, 2000). "Temporary retailers fight over space as holidays approach". Retrieved May 6, 2016.
- ^ "Company Information: About Spirit Halloween". Retrieved May 6, 2016.
- ^ a b Saldana, Sean (2021-10-05). "It's spooky how fast Spirit Halloween stores pop up. Here's how the retailer does it". Retrieved 2021-10-31.
- ^ "Menacing Molly Swings By For Halloween 2017 | AnimatronicHalloween.com". Retrieved Sep 3, 2020.
- ^ Valle, Gaby Del (2018-10-25). "What happens to Halloween pop-up shops after the holiday has passed?". Vox. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
- ^ "Americans spend $3 billion on Halloween costumes each year. It's an environmental nightmare". Retrieved 4 November 2021.
- ^ "Halloween Fun for Grown-Ups", CBS News, October 27, 2003.
- ^ a b Clark, Patrick; Mosendz, Polly (2016-10-27). "How Halloween Stores Conquered America". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
- ^ "Halloween’s Big Business at Boo-tiques", Los Angeles Times, October 24, 2000.
- ^ "The Heart of Spirit Halloween:About Spirit of Children". Retrieved May 6, 2016.
- ^ Stranges, Casy (October 24, 2016). "Health Canada Issues Recall For Spirit Halloween Items". CBC.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Health Canada warns of some dangerous Halloween products sold by Spirit Halloween". healthycanadians.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
External links[]
- Halloween
- Retail companies established in 1983
- Party stores of the United States
- Retail companies of Canada
- Companies based in Atlantic County, New Jersey
- Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey
- 1999 mergers and acquisitions
- 1983 establishments in New Jersey
- American companies established in 1983
- Halloween in the United States