The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Spirit unfurls Halloween popups
Many aren’t excited about having to mask up in the dog days of summer, but in a few months masks will be hot again — for the trick-or-treat crowd, anyway.
Spirit Halloween is rolling out its 2020 slate of costume and decoration stores, including in Danbury, where it is taking over former Babies R Us and Dressbarn stores, as well as several other locations in Milford, Ansonia, Hamden, Middletown, North Haven and Waterbury.
It marks the first major popup retail action since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Spirit arrives with some shoppers still skittish about venturing into stores, though the U.S. Census Bureau reported last week that July sales for specialty stores like hobby shops were up from a year earlier.
Mall gift chain Spencer’s operates Spirit, competing with Party City subsidiary Halloween City, mass retailers Walmart and Target, other smaller chains and independent retailers, and Amazon.
Halloween City has revealed a few Northeast locations in the works, including one in Woodbridge, N.J., but had yet to unveil any in Connecticut.
Earlier this month, the CEO of Elmsford, N.Y.-based Party City predicted declining sales for costumes and decorations for Halloween City and the parent company. While children’s costume sales are expected to stay steady, the company is steeling itself for fewer sales to adults.
“We’re really just trying to avoid overspending against potentially decreased demand,” Party City CEO Brad Weston said earlier this month. “We plan to go into the Halloween season conservatively knowing we have the ability to really refill in-demand product if demand proves to be stronger than expected. We certainly believe Halloween is going to happen in some form.”
The New York-based manufacturer Rubie’s Costume Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April, and second-quarter sales were down nearly 40 percent for Jakks Pacific, which sells costumes through a subsidiary called Disguise.
The pandemic “clearly” has cut into sales, in the words of John Kimble, chief financial officer of Jakks Pacific.
“In addition, we have been more cautious and disciplined in our shipments, not wanting to turn good inventory into bad debt,” Kimble said in July “Even the healthiest retailers are uncertain as to how the ongoing pandemic will affect demand for Halloween products — even though Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, which often leads to higher-than-normal sales.”
In Danbury, Mayor Mark Boughton’s staff expects the Connecticut Department of Public Health to eventually broach the topic of Halloween trick-or-treating, with the city focusing for now on the reopening of schools.
“We haven’t gotten there yet,” city spokesperson Taylor O’Brien said. “I would imagine the state ... is working on guidance, but depending on what this looks like in October, we will create guidance if they do not.”