Halloween Stores

Americans are expected to spend $5.8 billion on Halloween this year. That’s a lot of retail. Until yesterday, however, I wasn’t aware that there are seasonal stores (see photo) dedicated solely to supplying us with the perfect costumes, accessories, and decorations for Halloween.

In Silverdale shoppers can choose from two Halloween stores. SpiritHalloween has a primo location in the former Magnolia Hi-Fi building on Randall Way. It was plenty spooky when I went inside, with dim lighting and ghostly music playing on the store’s excellent sound system. The manager told me they opened at the beginning of September and will move out on November 1st. They appeared to have enough costumes for every trick-or-treater (adults and kids) in the county.

If they don’t, Halloween City is operating out of the former Blockbuster outlet on Bucklin Hill Road. I noticed a bit more light inside the store than at their competitor’s location when I checked it out. I especially liked the black-curtained changing booths (you wouldn’t want to buy a costume that doesn’t fit). Like SpiritHalloween, they will be around until the beginning of November.

Although I didn’t buy a costume at either store, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. You can say it’s too commercialized and cite these two ventures as evidence. But I think Halloween is great because it lacks the pressure and seriousness of other holidays. I’m referring to the way we celebrate it now, not its origins as the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when the spirits of the dead were thought to be able to mingle with the living. You can dress up, decorate your home, carve a pumpkin, see people of all ages in zany costumes, visit a haunted house, or watch a scary movie (like I always do). And if you live in a kid-accessible area, there’s the wonder and magic of earnest little trick-or-treaters.

Living on Mud Bay I’m too far from Rocky Point Road to attract any, but I always stock up on candy just in case. My dad and sister, who live in Del Mar, California, get hundreds of kids every year.