Spirit Halloween began its march towards the titular holiday, opening its flagship store in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, on Aug. 1.
The first sightings of Spirit Halloween's banner have become a tradition – on par with the start of school and college football – to signal that fall and its accompanying "spooky season" are on the horizon.
The pop-up costume purveyor plans to open themost stores in company history this year, with a record-setting 1,575 stores, compared to 1,546 in 2025 and 1,535 in 2024, USA TODAY previously reported. Doors will open across the nation in the coming weeks.
While the company has no permanent location – all of the over 1,500 stores are pop-ups – the pull of costumes, props and candy provides Spirit a unique corner
of the retail market. The ubiquity of locations in the shells of the retail apocalypse has turned the company into a meme.
Halloween spending was projected to surpass $13 billion in 2025, according to the National Retail Federation. Nearly one-third of consumers told the NRF in last year's version of its annual Halloween survey that they planned to spend at specialty Halloween/costume stores.
Here's what to know about Spirit as Halloween approaches.
Spirit Halloween history
The company opened its first door in 1983 at the Castro Valley Mall in Castro Valley, California. Even then, the setup was temporary.
Joe Marver, the company's founder, opened the location after experimenting with the Halloween business in his women's apparel shop, according to a 2000 Los Angeles Times article.
"They laughed at me and put me in a corner hidden behind an old restaurant. When I did $100,000 in 30 days, they were astounded,” Marver told the Times.
In 1999, Spencer Gifts purchased Spirit from Marver.
Spirit seeks to place its stores in locations with more than approximately 35,000 people within a 3- to 5-mile radius and is flexible on the store size.
"We want to bring Halloween to as many communities as possible," Drew Griffiths, divisional vice president, marketing and social media for Spirit, previously told USA TODAY. "While our ideal locations feature 5,000 to 50,000 square feet of sales floor space with awesome visibility, no store is too large – or too small."
Contributing: Greta Cross – USA TODAY; Gene Meyers – Bergen Record
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Spirit Halloween opening stores, signaling start of 'spooky season'
