Pandemic tamps down Halloween spending, fun
For the past 12 years, George Goldstein has built and run the Orlando Haunted Maze at his Lockhart neighborhood home. The electrician has even managed to keep it going through hurricane scares and storms.
But because of the coronavirus, there will be no scary attraction in 2020.
“My heart’s not in it this year,” Goldstein said of the event that in the past has drawn hundreds of people nightly. “I don’t want to be that person where they say, ‘I got it [COVID-19] at your place.’”
Goldstein’s decision illustrates the effects the pandemic is wreaking on Halloween plans in Central Florida and around the country. As families weigh the safest options for celebrating the holiday, which this year falls enticingly on a Saturday, businesses large and small are expecting fewer financial treats from what is usually a monster moneymaker.
Ben Johansen, owner of the costume shop Embellish FX in Orlando, said he’s already feeling a slowdown.
“Normally, we start to see a boost of costume sales in August,” said Johansen, who has owned the College Park shop for eight years. Buyer behavior has already changed, with a drop in foot traffic and more of his sales moving online. He said his top sellers have been scary face masks rather than full costumes.
Johansen’s account falls in line with predictions from the National Retail Federation, which annually produces a Halloween sales forecast based on a survey of likely consumers. According to their 2020 Halloween Data Center, total spending is expected to be $8 billion, down nearly $800 million compared with last year.
“It’s been an interesting year overall in terms of bigspending events,” said Katherine Cullen, senior director for industry and consumer insights at the National Retail Federation. She noted that only 58% of survey respondents planned to celebrate Halloween at all this year, as opposed to 68% last year.
But the Halloween sales picture isn’t all doom and gloom. While costume sales and total spending are predicted to be lower, per-person spending is actually looking to surpass last year, with people expected to spend more on decorations and candy.
“Throughout the pandemic when it comes to consumers, people still want to create a sense of normalcy,” Cullen said, pointing to a rise in sales for Halloween greeting cards as an example. “It’s changing the nature of what we do. There is a sense of making this special and celebratory.”
Many people remain undeterred, such as the 78% of families with children who say they will celebrate regardless.
On a rainy Sunday more than a month before the holiday, Pedro Alvarado of Orlando was at a Spirit Halloween store buying a costume for his 3-year-old son.
“He wants to be a policeman,” he said.
Alvarado said he believes children will be able to safely socially distance while collecting candy, though he has decided where to take his son trickor-treating.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, where people are still going to do it,” he said.
For Johansen, the question is less about how many people want to celebrate than it is where they will have to do that.
Much of his sales have been driven by high-dollar costume contests at large events, such as the annual party at Church Street in downtown Orlando, where Johansen and his husband
have helped the winners with their makeup three years in a row.
“Without these large parties happening, people are not going to be dressing up as much,” Johansen said. He’s hoping that with the bars reopened, there will be at least small events to help boost his sales.
Johansen said he believes government guidelines will be a necessary piece of the puzzle.
On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidelines outlining the risks for specific Halloween activities. Though the agency is deferring to local governments to make any official rules for participants, it advised against door-to-door trickor-treating, trunk-or-treat events in large parking lots, haunted houses, hayrides and crowded costume parties.
So far, Orange County is waiting to make any recommendations.
“While Halloween is on the county’s radar, it is too early to make any type of decision before mid-October,” said Despina McLaughlin, Orange County public information officer. “We are watching the data and working with the [state Department of Health] for future guidance. We will have more to say when we get closer to that date.”
Though it would mean a serious dip in revenue, Johansen said he would be fine with the government canceling major Halloween events this year.
“I have already planned on having a sad Halloween this year,” he said. “I would rather have a terrible year this year, get it all done with … And then we can all have a sense of how awesome next year’s going to be when we can look at each other’s faces instead of face masks.”
Goldstein, who is using the holiday to visit his grandson in Jacksonville this year, is taking a similar optimistic approach to next year.
“When we come back next year, I promise you, we’re going to be bigger and stronger,” he said of his maze. “It’ll be like a regrand opening.”