The pop-up costume and decoration retailer Spirit Halloween is opening more than 1,500 locations across the U.S and Canada this year — the most ever — with 40 of them in New Jersey so far.
Typically, the Halloween shopping season starts in the middle of the summer: late July. The trend has been referred to as “Summerween,” named after an episode from the Disney TV series “Gravity Falls” about the celebration of Halloween in the middle of summer.
And Spirit Halloween — with its flagship store in Egg Harbor Township in South Jersey — is not alone. Larger stores such as Home Depot, Walmart and Costco are already cranking out the costumes and decorations.
Story continues below photo gallery.
“It’s about getting the money first, getting the shopper spending first” at their store, Candace Corlett, president of WSL Strategic Retail, a New York City-based industry analyst and consultant, told NorthJersey.com in an interview last year.
“The thinking around the spending early and when those bags of candy are piled up … how many families buy them and finish them before Halloween,” she continued. “So it’s like infinite consumption.”
But David Marcotte, senior vice president for the Manhattan-based market research company Kantar, said the practice was more because of inventory and supply chain issues.
“When you have that much uncertainty, you move up your schedule,” he said. It’s been that way for years.
“It’s really more, 'I got to get it out of the warehouse — if I put anything in the warehouse, there’s a lot of opportunity in the warehouse for product to get damaged,' so you want to get it out of there. Putting it in the store is safer,” Marcotte said.
Many shoppers are anticipating the stores' opening, as more than half of Americans (53%) typically decorate their home or yard for Halloween, the National Retail Federation said.
Halloween has become a multibillion-dollar industry. The National Retail Federation, a trade group for retailers, estimated last year that consumers would spend $12.2 billion on Halloween, including candy, decorations and costumes.
The trade group said it did not perform a survey after the holiday was over, and it has not yet released predictions for Halloween this year.
How does Spirit Halloween decide where to put its stores?
Virtually all of New Jersey’s Spirit Halloween stores are at vacant retail spaces such as Sears, Bed Bath & Beyond, Christmas Tree Shops, Rite Aid and Office Depot.
Then, as quickly as they pop up, after Halloween the stores rapidly sell off the rest of their merchandise and close down until the next year.
A typical Spirit Halloween can range in size from 5,000 to 50,000 square feet, says the company's website. Leases generally last three months.
“We like to locate our stores in power centers, strip centers, free-standing stores, major downtown retail locations and in major malls surrounded by a national retailer mix,” the company says.
The venues are typically at locations that have a nearby population of 35,000 people living within 3 to 5 miles, and with a car count of at least 25,000 per day.
Spirit Halloween’s ubiquity has inspired memes of the store’s banners showing up at places like the White House, the Colosseum and American Dream in East Rutherford, after a store opened at the megamall in 2022.
Where are the New Jersey Spirit Halloween stores?
So far there are 40 Spirit Halloween stores across the Garden State, the website says.
Atlantic County
- 6725 East Black Horse Pike, Egg Harbor Township.
- Former Bed Bath & Beyond, 190 Hamilton Commons, Mays Landing.
Bergen County
- Former Bob’s Furniture, 460 Route 17 north, Paramus.
Burlington County
- 4390 Route 130, Willingboro.
- Former Bed Bath & Beyond, 740 Route 73 south, Marlton.
Camden County
- Former Christmas Tree Shops, 2130 Marlton Pike West, Cherry Hill.
- Former Rite Aid, 1360 Blackwood-Clementon Road, Clementon.
Cape May County
- Former Family Dollar, 1304 Route 47, Middle Township.
Cumberland County
- Former Ulta, 3849 South Delsea Drive, Vineland.
Essex County
- Former Buy Buy Baby, 530 West Mount Pleasant Ave., Livingston.
Gloucester County
- Former Sears, 581 Route 42, Turnersville.
- Former Rite Aid, 2099 North Black Horse Pike, Williamstown.
- Former Esporta, 1006 Mantua Pike, Woodbury Heights.
Mercer County
- Former Sears, 3300 Brunswick Ave., Lawrence Township.
Middlesex County
- 416 Route 1, Edison.
- Former Loehmanns, 233 Route 18, East Brunswick.
- 560 Milltown Road, North Brunswick.
- Former Staples, 1043 Route 9, Old Bridge.
- Former Dress Barn, 6303 Hadley Road, South Plainfield.
- Former Bed Bath & Beyond, 675 Route 1 south, Woodbridge Township.
Monmouth County
- Former Bed Bath & Beyond, 1121 Route 34, Aberdeen.
- Former Emma Mason Furniture, 425 Route 9, Englishtown.
- Freehold Raceway Mall, 3710 Route 9, Freehold.
- Former Barnes & Noble, 2134 Route 35, Holmdel.
- Former Rite Aid, 200 Wilson Ave., Port Monmouth.
Morris County
- Former Home Goods, 3101 Route 46, Parsippany-Troy Hills.
- Former Sports Authority, 40 Route 23, Riverdale.
- Former Christmas Tree Shops, 327 Mount Hope Ave., Rockaway.
- Former Harmon Face Values, 275 Route 10, Succasunna.
Ocean County
- Former Christmas Tree Shops, 465 Route 70, Brick Township.
- Former Five Below, 601 Washington Ave., Manahawkin.
- Former Rite Aid, 1726 Route 37, Toms River.
Passaic County
- Former Unclaimed Freight, 1030 Route 46, Clifton.
- Former Mattress Firm, 410 Route 46, Totowa.
- Former Bloomingdales, 469 Route 46, Wayne.
Somerset County
- Former Rite Aid, 319 Route 202, Bridgewater.
- Former Office Depot, 940 East Ave., Franklin Township.
Sussex County
- Former Harmon, 100 Route 23, Franklin.
- 17 Hampton House Road, Newton.
Union County
- Former Bed Bath & Beyond, 1511 Route 22, Watchung.
Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.
Email:munozd@northjersey.com; Twitter:@danielmunoz100andFacebook
