Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Halloween sales are low. Or high.

Forbes says sales are off but their story is based on forecasts not actual numbers -- and bizarrely focuses only on costume purchases.

According to other researchers, "Halloween sales are expected to reach a record-breaking $6 billion in 2009, up 4.2 percent from the $5.77 billion generated last year."

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year so I would have thought: more parties, more decorations. But I noticed that Garden Ridge had the sparsest, most disappointing selection ever (No SpookyTown!) and their merchandise seemed less gory and more Harvest Celebration-y. Michaels and Target, though, looked about the same as last year. I guess everyone had to choose which forecast to believe.

2 comments:

Suniverse said...

There has been a sadly lacking selection of Halloween goods at any stores around me. Granted, metro Detroit is not necessarily a hotbed of commercial activity right now.

Still, I would have liked a better variety of Halloween stuff.

It's just not fair.

Irene Done said...

It's NOT fair! This is supposed to be fun! Where's the fun?

The past few years, there's been a chain of Halloween stores that set up right after Labor Day -- they move into an empty retail space, operate for two months, then shut down. But this year, there were noticeably fewer of those. I guess no city is a hotbed of commercial activity right now. Which sucks. Bring back the hotbeds!