Students appreciate Halloween stores opening early

With help from Flushing senior Morgan Foshee, Bronson senior Joe Barone tries on a Wonder Woman corset Monday in the Spirit halloween store located in the Mount Pleasant Shopping Center. “Im excited, it gives you a chance to get ideas going with your friends,” Barone said. (Brooke Mayle/Staff Photographer)

Although the fall season is blooming more and more everyday, some Halloween stores took the initiative to open while people were still in summer vacation mode.

While it is more than a month away until Oct. 31, stores are already open looking to sell decorations and costumes. Spirit Halloween, 2135 S. Mission St., opened last Friday, and manager Jodi Cantu said the store has been busy every day since.

“This is actually our first year in Mount Pleasant,” Cantu said. “We had a lot of great sales that lead to a good turnout, even though Halloween is far away.”

Grand Rapids native Christy Stauffer said she enjoys Halloween stores being open with a lot of time prior to Halloween.

“I don’t think it’s that bad because I don’t even know what I want to be for Halloween yet,” the junior said. “If I can walk around and look at all the costumes, I can start brainstorming.”

Cantu said Spencer’s Gifts owns Spirit Halloween and its corporate offices determine where and when its stores open.

“We had a specific age market so that’s why we decided to open a location here in Mount Pleasant,” she said.

Cantu said compared to other Spirit Halloween locations, people seem to come in at a steady pace to buy Halloween costumes whether it’s in advance or right before Halloween.

“I think we have (many people) at both times,” she said. “I think people come in the minute it opens because they love the holiday, and then there’s the people who wait and bombard us.”

Kate Teneyck agrees and doesn’t find it out of the ordinary for Halloween stores to be open already.

“I usually make my costumes but I go to the store to get ideas,” the Sault Ste. Marie freshman said. “The fact they’re open right now offers more ideas before all the costumes are gone.”