The Halloween-Industrial Complex
After the 2008 recession, commercial real estate firms had a ton of empty buildings. Fortunately, Halloween stores were ready to fill the gap — for a month.
A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, a twice-weekly newsletter that hunts for the end of the long tail.
When a retail chain or store inevitably shuts down, it leaves an open sore in the real estate sector — with no more Blockbuster nights to be had nor any fresh tenants to be found (perhaps mattress stores?) there has to be someone to fill that hole cheaply, quickly, and without much fuss. Enter the Halloween industry, which offers a nice balance of seasonal appeal and consistent public interest.
Let’s talk about the pop-up Halloween shop, the zombie of modern retail. It’s scary how well this model works.
$9.1B
The amount that Halloween is expected to scare up in retail revenue this year, according to the National Retail Federation. Spending on Halloween costumes alone is a $3.4 billion economic driver, according to the retail group. While that spending is significant — and a big jump from prior years — it’s actually somewhat modest compared to some other holidays. Valentine’s Day, a similar holiday where…
