Spooky season spending stays strong

It’s James Taylor’s birthday today, but the party will have to wait.

The 53-year-old manages Halloween Alley, a retailer that has been popping up in Winnipeg for three months every year since 2014. The last week of October is the store’s busiest, so Taylor has to delay his birthday celebration — but he doesn’t mind.

“I love Halloween,” he said. “It’s always been in my blood for as long as I’ve been alive.”

Halloween Alley sets up shop in a different empty office or big-box space each year, usually near CF Polo Park. This year, it’s located at 850 Milt Stegall Dr. — kitty-corner to Party Stuff, across the street from Toys “R” Us and a two-minute drive from one of the city’s three Spirit Halloween locations.

People looking for scary costumes and décor in the St. James neighbourhood have options — and Taylor is thankful when they choose Halloween Alley, part of an Edmonton-based chain with 13 stores across Canada.

“It’s been a pretty good year this year,” Taylor said, declining to disclose exact sales figures. “When people come in they just want to find a good costume, right? They just want you to help them. So our biggest goal here really is to help them be happy.”

According to a 2024 Leger study on Halloween spending, 83 per cent of Canadians planned to spend the same or more than they did the year before. The average Canadian household spent $67.65 on costumes, candy and décor.

Najam Abbas recently spent more than twice that amount. Between costumes for his two children, candy for trick-or-treaters and a few modest decorations, the Bridgwater resident said he’s spent more than $150 this month.

“(My kids) wait for it all year,” Abbas said after exiting Spirit Halloween on Empress Street. He had just purchased a voice-changing device for his son’s killer clown costume. “(Halloween) is something they enjoy more than Christmas.”

Inside the store, manager Christine Bourgeois noted sales are down slightly from last year but the store is still doing well.

Headquartered in New Jersey, the chain has more than 1,500 locations that pop up across North America in the lead-up to Halloween.

A Winnipeg family brought the franchise to Manitoba in 2010. This year, they have three stores in the provincial capital and one in Brandon. The stores typically open in mid-July and close around Nov. 10. They employ a combined 100 Manitobans, Bourgeois said.

Costumes range in price from $27.99 for a straightforward robe to $129.99 for an elaborate gorilla getup, she said. On average, customers shell out between $49.99 and $64.99 for a costume. Outfits from the hit Netflix movie KPop Demon Hunters are especially popular this year.

The enthusiasm from customers is palpable, Bourgeois said. “That excitement comes from kids all the way to adults.”

That excitement is also felt at A Maze in Corn, which has operated a corn maze near St. Adolphe for nearly three decades. Owner Clint Masse said the business generates 80 per cent of its annual revenue in October.

About 20,000 people will pay the $14 to $16 admission fee during the Halloween season, Masse said, roughly half of whom visit the haunted forest attraction he added 20 years ago.

Despite recent rainfall, which usually keeps customers away, he said the business is on track to make as much money as it did in October 2024.

At the Assiniboine Park Zoo, staff estimate 60,000 people will have attended this year’s family-friendly Boo at the Zoo event by the time its 21-night run ends on Friday.

“It’s a great way for people to experience the zoo in a different way,” said spokesperson Laura Cabak.

Halloween means big business for Oh Doughnuts. For the last 10 or so days of October, the company, which has locations on Broadway and Taylor Avenue, offers a rotating menu of around 20 seasonally appropriate options — including “Boston scream” and “Strawberry vanilla brains.”

Halloween is one of the company’s busiest days of the year, said Erica Burgess, who manages both stores.

“We just try to keep giving people what they want,” Burgess said. “Having people come in and see our (display) case is completely transformed into Halloween-themed doughnuts is pretty exciting.”

That the average Canadian household continues to spend around $70 at Halloween is surprising given the rising cost of living and the economic uncertainty many are facing, said Sandeep Arora, a marketing professor at the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business.

Halloween is a community-oriented event that brings people joy, which drives their participation, Arora said. Additionally, major brands of all kinds — even those not associated with candy and costumes — launch Halloween promotions to influence consumers.

“All the factors combine and come together to actually lead to a greater level of engagement and (spending) during Halloween,” Arora said.

For those who can’t get enough, Masse from A Maze in Corn points out his haunted forest attraction will be open for one final day on Nov. 1 — or, as he likes to call it, “Oct. 32.”

“A haunted forest doesn’t belong in November, so we had to change the space-time continuum and make October have one more day,” he said.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca