“You People Are Insane”: People Online Are Surprised By Halloween Stores In The US That Are Only There For This Specific Period Of Time
The falling leaves and reappeared Pumpkin Spice Latte on the menus of people’s favorite coffee shops signal that the “spooky” season is upon us. Having this in mind, more and more people, especially the enthusiasts of this holiday, are already planning what they are going to prepare for Halloween festivities. This includes coming up with an idea of what to wear, how to decorate the house, and finding the best way to celebrate this day. The most important thing is to be ready for the holiday in time and for most people, the quickest and already proven way is to go to the stores and get everything from there.
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A lot of people enjoy October as it is known for its Halloween festivities
Image credits: Janet 59
Tumblr user @wooteena asked people online whether it’s actually true that Americans have stores dedicated to Halloween where people can find things they need for this specific holiday, also stressing that these shops only are there for this period of time and later are moved from the building. Other users confirmed this to be true, revealing more details about how Halloween shops operate during this time.
One Tumblr user was curious to know whether Americans really have these Halloween stores that are only open for this specific occasion
Image credits: wooteena
It didn’t take long for others to confirm this to be true and explain how empty buildings become Halloween stores for a couple of months
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Image credits: wooteena
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Some users commented that this is a pretty common practice for Halloween-related stores to pop up out of nowhere and fill empty and unusable buildings with various goods for this particular holiday. But what are these buildings and why is there this empty space?
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Image credits: what-even-is-thiss
Image credits: cheeseanonioncrisps
During the pandemic, a lot of big retail businesses had to shut down, leaving these buildings unused. Even though recent times have been hard on companies and businesses, it seems that seasonal markets are doing great, temporarily filling these forgotten stores with goods for Halloween. Their idea behind this is to lease the premises for the holiday season and then once it’s over, move out and carry the business further online.
Image credits: what-even-is-thiss
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Image credits: what-even-is-thiss
The Tumblr thread mentioned one of the most well-known Halloween stores, Spirit Halloween. Leasing empty retail spaces for a short period of time helps them to get their business going. This is also useful to landlords who find it difficult to find long-term tenants and keep the property profitable. According to Marisa Uzzolino, who is the Spirit Halloween associate manager, people are ready to spend money on Halloween festivities as they get this one opportunity in a year to become whoever they want to be and this is not something they want to miss.
What is your take on Halloween? Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments down below!
This is now only done for with Halloween; after this period is over, these retail buildings become empty again
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Spirit Halloween is one of the most profitable stores that sell goods for this holiday
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Image credits: Jim, the Photographer
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That person with absolutely flip their lid when they find out about the fireworks stores that go POOF when the season is over.
Yeah, we also have those in our tiny country. Plus we have pop-up post offices for christmas season.
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They pop up all over the place in Scotland too, have done for quite some time - where else would we get costumes and all the fun stuff?
They are for sale in what were $2 shops (before inflation) in my country.
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Every October the liquor store near me puts up a sign that says "The REAL spirit store". I still laugh when I see it.
Spirit Halloweens possess dead businesses for spooky season. Is this not standerd every where?
No, not at all. Christmas, you have the gadget stores that appear for the month and then disappear into the void until the following year.
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I know shops here in the UK that sell fireworks and only open for the month before Nov 5th.
Christmas shops that pop up for a short while in the UK too. Doesn't seem that odd to me really.
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The Hastings stores that closed years ago stand sadly empty except for the brief month they are possessed by the Spirit of Halloween.
This is a Canadian phenomenon too. A Spirit Halloween store pops up for about 6 weeks every year. Usually different locations every year.
Yeah. My area's has been in the same place since forever, though. It only changed because it's old one is a Covid testing site now.
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What do you think those container ships sitting in the harbors waiting to unload are carrying? Future landfille.
of all the things to pick on Americans about, pop-up halloween stores is stupid. Most countries with an Abrahamic religious influence (most of the west) have pop-up christmas stores.
Why is this so strange? It's a pop up store. And everyone knows, we Americans love us some Halloween.
Why does it matter? And why is it "insane"? That reaction is so over the top. 🙄
I love how this is billed like it's only an american thing. Pop up stores are a thing in most countries.
No judgement from me. I would love a good Halloween store here. But I can't say I've ever seen a pop up store before. I've never even heared of this Halloween phenomenon in the US before. But we do have Christmas Markets that are like little ginger bread towns which pop up every year....
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How is it insane, I really don't understand. People are supposed to either have a halloween store open all year or not at all?
I think the one dude is on to something. They need to keep the building and sell every holiday. Spirit Halloween, Spirit Thanksgiving / Fall, Spirit Christmas, Spirit New Years, Spirit Valentines Day, Spirit Easter, Spirit Independence, Spirit Labor day (just because) and in between the holidays everyone's Personal favorite Spirit Birthday so you'll always be prepared, but lower your prices. I went to Spirit the other day and holy s**t. Most of their "decorations" are ridiculously over priced.
Sometimes these things make me feel super trash for being American. Because Americans are always being called insane and idiots. I mean, some can be, but really, people say it like we all are. It’s like if you said all apples are red. No, you’re not looking at the wider perspective.
I live in a VERY Catholic southern Med. Country. Gradually a couple of the supermarkets have started stocking Halloween type things over the years but it will literally be half a shelf of products. We have priests on the radio around Halloween telling people not to get sucked into the evil pagan celebrations haha. Of course, I ignore them
Over the years our house has accumulated about 2 chest worth of Halloween costumes and accessories. We even like to stop into a Spirit Halloween store right after Halloween to get stuff cheap and on clearance sales. It's to the point that we can mix and match for entirely new costume creations.
Except this year. In north carolina. WE GOT HALLOWEEN CITY WHICH SUUUUCKS.
I don't get the big deal...no difference to Xmas decoration shops and fireworks shops etc, it's once a year.
In my home city in England we have stores that only sell fireworks for two weeks of the year in preparation for Guy Fawkes night (November 5th) and New Year. Tbh there's nothing unusual about it as these stores make an absolute killing in such a short period of time.
This happens in the UK, mostly fireworks and Christmas…what country was surprised this happens?
I mean, pop up-stores aren't unheard of in Europe either. Personally haven't seen any related to Halloween, but in my country you're hard pressed to get fireworks any time between january and november. Come desember these stores and stands pop up.
Happens in the UK for Christmas time, a store that's empty will be opened for a short period of time before Christmas and sell cheap Christmas decorations and wrapping paper etc then vanish on Boxing Day until the next year. Never seen a Halloween one in the UK though
we have dress-up stores that are open the whole year and depending on the season you'll find more articles for the upcoming event... no one could afford paying a store to stay closed 11 of 12 months, just to open for a couple of days for an event that is not even really celebrated in our country.
....this person is very strange, it's called a pop up shop and it happens all over the world. Not strange at all. I bet they would freak when they realise there are pop up shops for Christmas as well all over the world.
In the UK it's even more ridiculous- we have seasonal shops that open each year just to sell calendars!
That's the only thing I envy from The States. I wish we celebrated halloween. I mean, we do but on a tiny scale by a handful of people only.
i'm proud of it, okay! halloween is great, let's dedicate entire stores to it. next step is convincing people to have them open all year round!
I love halloween stuff all year round, my room is decorated for halloween all year 😂🎃👻
Never understood the obsession with Halloween in the USA but ok.If it makes you happy guys,go for it...
The stores are not empty for decades. Instead, they often were empty for maybe 3-6 months. If your store front is empty in September, you would be a fool not to rent it out for a seasonal thing. September-October is nice, then again later in November-December for Christmas/New Years.
We have the Spirit of Halloween stores here in Canada too. They are great.
Our Spirit Halloween store is in the same building every year. I think the building turns into a book store after halloween, but I never pay too much attention to it to remember lol
Can confirm. One day, you wake up and that empty storefront has morphed, almost overnight, into a Spirit Halloween. And it disappears just as quickly.
Spirit Halloween has a grim reaper as the mascot cause they possess dead store! I never thought of it like that before..
Don't tell them about the Christmas stores that open year round. Need a fake pine tree and some whicker reindeer in June? We got you fam.
Which raises the question... is it "weirder" to have a holiday store that only opens for the season and then disappears, or to have one that is open year round for the same holiday?
Load More Replies...
That person with absolutely flip their lid when they find out about the fireworks stores that go POOF when the season is over.
Yeah, we also have those in our tiny country. Plus we have pop-up post offices for christmas season.
Load More Replies... They pop up all over the place in Scotland too, have done for quite some time - where else would we get costumes and all the fun stuff?
They are for sale in what were $2 shops (before inflation) in my country.
Load More Replies... Every October the liquor store near me puts up a sign that says "The REAL spirit store". I still laugh when I see it.
Spirit Halloweens possess dead businesses for spooky season. Is this not standerd every where?
No, not at all. Christmas, you have the gadget stores that appear for the month and then disappear into the void until the following year.
Load More Replies... I know shops here in the UK that sell fireworks and only open for the month before Nov 5th.
Christmas shops that pop up for a short while in the UK too. Doesn't seem that odd to me really.
Load More Replies... The Hastings stores that closed years ago stand sadly empty except for the brief month they are possessed by the Spirit of Halloween.
This is a Canadian phenomenon too. A Spirit Halloween store pops up for about 6 weeks every year. Usually different locations every year.
Yeah. My area's has been in the same place since forever, though. It only changed because it's old one is a Covid testing site now.
Load More Replies... What do you think those container ships sitting in the harbors waiting to unload are carrying? Future landfille.
of all the things to pick on Americans about, pop-up halloween stores is stupid. Most countries with an Abrahamic religious influence (most of the west) have pop-up christmas stores.
Why is this so strange? It's a pop up store. And everyone knows, we Americans love us some Halloween.
Why does it matter? And why is it "insane"? That reaction is so over the top. 🙄
I love how this is billed like it's only an american thing. Pop up stores are a thing in most countries.
No judgement from me. I would love a good Halloween store here. But I can't say I've ever seen a pop up store before. I've never even heared of this Halloween phenomenon in the US before. But we do have Christmas Markets that are like little ginger bread towns which pop up every year....
Load More Replies... How is it insane, I really don't understand. People are supposed to either have a halloween store open all year or not at all?
I think the one dude is on to something. They need to keep the building and sell every holiday. Spirit Halloween, Spirit Thanksgiving / Fall, Spirit Christmas, Spirit New Years, Spirit Valentines Day, Spirit Easter, Spirit Independence, Spirit Labor day (just because) and in between the holidays everyone's Personal favorite Spirit Birthday so you'll always be prepared, but lower your prices. I went to Spirit the other day and holy s**t. Most of their "decorations" are ridiculously over priced.
Sometimes these things make me feel super trash for being American. Because Americans are always being called insane and idiots. I mean, some can be, but really, people say it like we all are. It’s like if you said all apples are red. No, you’re not looking at the wider perspective.
I live in a VERY Catholic southern Med. Country. Gradually a couple of the supermarkets have started stocking Halloween type things over the years but it will literally be half a shelf of products. We have priests on the radio around Halloween telling people not to get sucked into the evil pagan celebrations haha. Of course, I ignore them
Over the years our house has accumulated about 2 chest worth of Halloween costumes and accessories. We even like to stop into a Spirit Halloween store right after Halloween to get stuff cheap and on clearance sales. It's to the point that we can mix and match for entirely new costume creations.
Except this year. In north carolina. WE GOT HALLOWEEN CITY WHICH SUUUUCKS.
I don't get the big deal...no difference to Xmas decoration shops and fireworks shops etc, it's once a year.
In my home city in England we have stores that only sell fireworks for two weeks of the year in preparation for Guy Fawkes night (November 5th) and New Year. Tbh there's nothing unusual about it as these stores make an absolute killing in such a short period of time.
This happens in the UK, mostly fireworks and Christmas…what country was surprised this happens?
I mean, pop up-stores aren't unheard of in Europe either. Personally haven't seen any related to Halloween, but in my country you're hard pressed to get fireworks any time between january and november. Come desember these stores and stands pop up.
Happens in the UK for Christmas time, a store that's empty will be opened for a short period of time before Christmas and sell cheap Christmas decorations and wrapping paper etc then vanish on Boxing Day until the next year. Never seen a Halloween one in the UK though
we have dress-up stores that are open the whole year and depending on the season you'll find more articles for the upcoming event... no one could afford paying a store to stay closed 11 of 12 months, just to open for a couple of days for an event that is not even really celebrated in our country.
....this person is very strange, it's called a pop up shop and it happens all over the world. Not strange at all. I bet they would freak when they realise there are pop up shops for Christmas as well all over the world.
In the UK it's even more ridiculous- we have seasonal shops that open each year just to sell calendars!
That's the only thing I envy from The States. I wish we celebrated halloween. I mean, we do but on a tiny scale by a handful of people only.
i'm proud of it, okay! halloween is great, let's dedicate entire stores to it. next step is convincing people to have them open all year round!
I love halloween stuff all year round, my room is decorated for halloween all year 😂🎃👻
Never understood the obsession with Halloween in the USA but ok.If it makes you happy guys,go for it...
The stores are not empty for decades. Instead, they often were empty for maybe 3-6 months. If your store front is empty in September, you would be a fool not to rent it out for a seasonal thing. September-October is nice, then again later in November-December for Christmas/New Years.
We have the Spirit of Halloween stores here in Canada too. They are great.
Our Spirit Halloween store is in the same building every year. I think the building turns into a book store after halloween, but I never pay too much attention to it to remember lol
Can confirm. One day, you wake up and that empty storefront has morphed, almost overnight, into a Spirit Halloween. And it disappears just as quickly.
Spirit Halloween has a grim reaper as the mascot cause they possess dead store! I never thought of it like that before..
Don't tell them about the Christmas stores that open year round. Need a fake pine tree and some whicker reindeer in June? We got you fam.
Which raises the question... is it "weirder" to have a holiday store that only opens for the season and then disappears, or to have one that is open year round for the same holiday?
Load More Replies... 
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