Spooky season is here! Spirit Halloween to open 1,500+ stores this year

The calendar may say August, but the first Spirit Halloween stores have started opening.

The temporary Halloween costume and decoration retailer opened its flagship store in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, USA Today reported.

Over the next few weeks, the company will open more than 1,500 locations nationwide, employing 50,000 people, the company said in a news release.

Spirit Halloween started in 1983 in the Bay area. It was bought by Spencer Gifts in 1999 and has brought Halloween to the masses in more than a thousand stores located in shopping centers or malls across the U.S. It also operates a website year-round.

To find your closest location, click here.

Some of the hot items you’ll be able to decorate your home with this year include Towering Tallulah the witch which starts out at 5 feet tall but then springs up to almost 9 feet. She retails for $329.99.

Mack Straw the scarecrow is about 8 feet tall and has a moving head. He retails for $179.99.

Spirit may have Halloween in its name but it isn’t the only retailer already selling spooky stuff for this year.

Home Depot already unveiled its Halloween products including its popular Skelly, a 12-foot skeleton, and an upgraded version, Servo Skelly with a rotating head.

Lowe’s is bringing Disney’s Haunted Manion to homes with tombstones and other animated figures inspired by the classic ride.

Target also showed off its Halloween offerings including Lewis the Pumpkin Ghoul.

The latest data from the National Retail Federation showed that people were expected to spend $12.2 billion on Halloween in 2023, surpassing the record of $10.6 billion set in 2022. The NRF has not released the expected spending levels for 2024.

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