Holiday scares up some good retail
Holiday shopping may look grim towards the end of the year, but Halloween-related spending is actually up. Julie Rose looks into how the holiday is allowing consumers to dress down their economic woes.
Jamaal Lampkin tries on a wig while shopping for a Halloween costume in Washington, D.C. (Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images)
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Steve Chiotakis: Retail sales are way down, and stores are bracing for a less-than-stellar holiday season. But it's another holiday -- well sort of a holiday -- that's got retailers screaming with joy. From WFAE in Charlotte, North Carolina, Julie Rose has more.
Julie Rose: Like most Americans, Candace Rogers is sticking to a budget. But not when it comes to Halloween. She and her friends plan to spend twice as much as usual:
Candace Rogers: We're gonna get two costumes because we have two parties to go to. I'm looking for probably like a pirate costume, and a nurse costume.
That sexy pirate costume runs about 80 bucks. It pays to be in the Halloween business right now. The National Retail Federation says people will spend about 3 percent more this year.
Costume seller Philip Morris says Halloween sales are up 20 percent at some of his stores in Charlotte.
Philip Morris: It's an escape holiday. If you want to become a movie starlet, if you want to become the president of the United States. And all of your troubles and all of your woes can be just left behind.
Hundreds of workers are packing orders at a frenzied pace inside the Morris Costumes Warehouse. They're a top Halloween wholesaler. Morris says Batman and Indiana Jones are hot this year. So what does a Halloween mogul go as?
Morris: I'm gonna go home and go to bed. We're working almost 24 hours a day.
And making lots of money.
From Charlotte, I'm Julie Rose for Marketplace.
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