We recently went “shopping” at several Halloween pop-up stores with James Fuller, a reporter for the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper. The following is an excerpt from James’ article, "Popular Halloween pop-up stores help push for annual 'Halloweekend' "
“Spirit Halloween is one of the largest Halloween retailers with 725 locations across the country. But just being located on a main street doesn't necessarily equal success, as evidenced by all the previously empty storefronts pop-ups have found this year to move into.
“Spirit Halloween is one of the largest Halloween retailers with 725 locations across the country. But just being located on a main street doesn't necessarily equal success, as evidenced by all the previously empty storefronts pop-ups have found this year to move into.
Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender, a St. Charles-based retail consulting team, said pop-up stores like a local Spirit Halloween shop are prime examples of retail outlets who do nearly everything right as a matter of survival. In eight weeks, Halloween retails make 70 to 80 percent of their revenue for the entire year, they said. That's because when they open, Halloween pop-up stores often do far better business then even the major retail chains in the same strip malls.
"If you're willing to do 1 percent more than anybody else, you win the war," Kizer said, eyeballing a Spirit Halloween employee dressed as a penguin roaming a parking lot on Randall Road in Elgin. "This store has got to sell itself."
A big, bright neon-colored sign adorns the outside of the store. Inside, a mechanical ghoul crawls toward the front door, stopping customers in their tracks. Bender said that's a key ploy to keep customers in the store longer. The more time spent in the store, the more money a customer tends to spend. Indeed, the whole store is decorated with functioning, large yard displays of varying levels of terror and humor from animatronic slashers from well-known horror films ("Friday the 13th" and "Halloween") to your basic talking heads, er, skulls.
"What they are selling here is an experience," Bender said. "These displays are speed bumps to make you forget what you're here for."
Click to read the article in its entirety: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=332642
