For sale: Wolf, gorilla and chicken
After years of having a gorilla, wolf and chicken in her garage, Ann Moore has decided to get rid of them.
That may sound strange but the 63-year-old also has a pig, Batman, Mona Lisa and many more out-of-place characters at her central Taranaki property.
Moore used to own MooreFun Costumes and hired out thousands of outfits that she’d made and bought.
She shut shop four years ago but hoped one day she could spark the store up again so kept the ‘‘best of the best’’ outfits in her garage.
However, she has since decided to call it quits and sell everything off at a garage sale in the next couple of months.
‘‘I wanted it to work so much,’’ Moore said.
‘‘I have the female equivalent of a man cave but I’m sick to death of selling them.’’
She has three racks full of costumes from medieval dresses, to Pocahontas to suit tails and two shelves full of wigs and masks like monsters and Marge Simpson.
She is selling most outfits and accessories for $10 - similar items are selling online for more than $100.
Her gorilla, wolf and chicken are a bit more costly but still selling cheaply for what they are.
Moore’s costume making and buying started from an obsession – she used to have so many dress-up parties she’d make a costume one weekend and wear it the next.
When her collection built up she started hiring them out.
‘‘It just kind of grew,’’ Moore said.
‘‘Because I used to dress up so much. I loved it.’’
She started MooreFun Costumes in her Stratford garage in 2005 and moved to New Plymouth five years later.
She used to love dressing people, finding out more about them, where they were off to and all the ins and outs.
‘‘I had a lot of fun,’’ she said. ‘‘You got to know people by their costumes and they’d tell me the fun they had afterwards.
‘‘I often used to think at Halloween I could call the police and tell them where the parties are.’’
Moore doesn’t dress up as much as she used to but hasn’t stopped completely.
‘‘My social life isn’t quite what it used to be.But I do dress up for kids’ things,’’ she said.
‘‘I went as Marge Simpson to my grandson’s 5th birthday.’’