The ghosts and goblins won’t dance along town streets for another seven weeks, but they are already becoming big business in Mooresville.
Three seasonal Halloween stores have opened in recent days, ushering in the macabre holiday with more visibility than ever before. Aside from chain-store retailers that annually debut costumes and decorations – such as Walmart, Target and Party City – two Halloween Express locations and a Spirit Halloween store are also getting in on the local ghoulish game.
“Around Labor Day, people start getting excited about (Halloween),” said Randy Durso who runs three Spirit Halloween stores in the region, including a Mooresville location at Brawley Commons on Brawley School Road. The New Jersey-based company owns fifteen locations across North Carolina this year after boasting more than 700 outlets across the country in 2009.
Durso said most Halloween stores pop up around early September, opening their doors just as summer ends so consumers have nearly two months to peruse the aisles for the perfect costume. The Mooresville Spirit Halloween opened Sept. 4 and will run through early November, when 50 percent discounts slash the prices of leftover items.
Durso’s retail location is just one of three large seasonal stores in Mooresville dedicated to October’s month-end celebration.
Charlotte-based Morris Costumes recently opened two seasonal locations -- both called Halloween Express – on River Highway near Target and on Norman Station Boulevard across from WalMart. Although Morris Costumes has been utilizing Mooresville for one retail shop for several years, this is the first season they have debuted two stores.
Morris Costumes also operates two retail locations in Charlotte as well as a year-round superstore on Monroe Road in the Queen City. Representatives of Morris Costumes could not be reached for comment.
Halloween may seem far away, but waiting until the last minute for that witch’s hat or vampire makeup might mean walking away from the store empty-handed, said Durso.
“We get a lot of people who come in and look and say they’ll come in later and get it. They come in a week before Halloween and it’s gone.”
Durso recommends buying those ghastly masks, creepy decorations and spine-tingling accessories early, before it’s too late. “If you come in and see what you like it, buy it,” he added, saying there’s no guarantee it’ll still linger on the shelves in the days leading up to Oct. 31.
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