Thursday, October 23, 2008
As a child, Kyle Billings vaguely remembers trips to the tiny Fun & Games store in Downtown Lawrence during the Halloween season. Thirty years ago, it sold a small number of costumes, accessories and toys. Billings bought the store 10 years ago and last year, moved it to a building four times larger on 23rd Street to allow for the growing demand of Halloween items.
According to history.com, the popularity of Halloween has increased so much through the years that Americans spend $6.9 billion on the holiday annually, which makes it the second-largest commercial holiday.
The Halloween industry no longer consists of only costumes and candy. Andrew Goodrich, assistant manager at Spirit Halloween said decorations, novelty items and accessories were all big sellers in Lawrence because of all the college parties.
“It has exploded in what is offered,” said Billings. “Ten years ago it was minimal. But now quality has increased and costs and inventory gets larger each year.”
Unlike its competitors, Fun & Games has costumes, wigs and makeup for sale year-round. To meet the Halloween demands, Billings carries more than 1,000 different styles of costumes.
“Some requests we get are off the wall,” Billings said. “If we don’t have a costume, then I try to help them put something together.”
Billings said about 75 percent of his yearly profit comes from the Halloween season.
Sara Rice, assistant manager at Party America, also said that her store relied heavily on the Halloween season for most of its profit. Rice has worked at Party America for 10 years, watching the trends come and go, and says the season is bigger than it used to be.
“I think it’s becoming more of an adult holiday,” Rice said.
Rice said that most of the customers who bought costumes tend to be women. The most expensive costume in Party America is a musketeer girl for $100.
“Guys will be whatever,” Rice said. “They won’t come in and say, ‘I’ve got to be a cow.’”
During the past 10 years, the prices of costumes have changed only slightly, but the quality has changed dramatically, Rice said. Once made out of plastic, most costumes are cloth now. The realistic qualities of masks, costumes and face paint have also improved.
If customers are looking for high-quality, realistic costumes, they can go to Sarah’s Fabrics, which rents theater-quality costumes for 24 hours at an average cost of about $30.
“It makes me laugh when people come in here and say they bought a costume online where it’s a costume in the front, but just a thin piece of fabric in the back,” said Kathy Barland, Sarah’s Fabrics employee.
Billings said that renting was a good alternative if customers didn’t want to buy something they might only wear once. In 2006, census.gov recorded 2,077 costume rental establishments in the nation.
“Fewer people I know in the industry are doing rentals,” Billings said. “It’s a lot of work because if the costumes come back damaged or stained you have to fix them.”
Selling costumes online is a new approach Halloween stores are using to reach customers. Spirit Halloween has a Web site with hundreds of costumes for sale for men, women and children. Plus sizes, decorations and accessories are also available online.
Billings started a Web site for Fun & Games last summer. No sales have been made yet but Billings said he was optimistic. Billings said he saw a need for an online store because the holiday was always expanding and he wanted to be able to reach more people.
— - Edited by Arthur Hur
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