DENVER (KDVR) — It may still be summer, but Halloween stores are starting to pop up in previously vacant commercial spaces around the country.
Most brick-and-mortar stores stay in one location for years, but Spirit Halloween is only open for a few months of the year, often in different pop-up locations from one year to the next.
A spokesperson for Spirit Halloween said they were reluctant to “reveal our operational secrets,” but did give some insight into how the company chooses its locations for each spooky season.
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“We look to identify stores in lifestyle centers, strip centers, free-standing stores, major downtown retail locations, and in major malls that are surrounded by a national retailer mix. Ideal locations for a Spirit Halloween store offer between 5,000 and 50,000 square feet of sales floor space with great visibility,” the spokesperson said.
A family exits a Spirit Halloween store operating in a former Best Buy. Spirit Halloween, LLC, a subsidiary of Spencer Gifts, is a seasonal retailer that sells Halloween decoration and costumes at more than a thousand locations each Halloween season. (Photo by Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
According to the website, the company looks for three-month leases in buildings with a large footprint available. To make sure they attract enough business, the company aims to set up in communities with a population of around 35,000 people living within a 3 to 5 mile radius of the store.
The stores typically close within a week or two after Halloween.
