Lucy in Disguise, which opened its costume rental shop on South Congress Avenue in Austin in 1984, is among the shops preparing for a very different Halloween this year. Now the pandemic is going to put many of them back an entire year, if not more.” “Halloween is a make-or-break time for smaller seasonal retailers,” Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, told the Washington Post. Nationally, Halloween spending alone is expected to fall 8% to $8.05 billion, with costume sales accounting for much of the decline, according to the National Retail Federation.
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Now many are trying to figure out how to navigate what they expect to be a steep drop-off in sales as consumers change the way they celebrate the holidays during the pandemic.
Hopefully.”įor many small Austin businesses including costume shops, party stores, seasonal pop-ups and event spaces, Halloween provides a crucial boost to the bottom line and marks the beginning of the do-or-die holiday season. “We saw a small bit in September, and now we’re moving into Halloween, so hopefully there will be a little more.
“From April to August there was no business - zero,” said Mary Ellen Butler, who owns the Round Rock costume rental business with her family. For A Cut Above Costumes, the first coronavirus blow came in the spring, when school drama programs and local theater groups canceled their costume rentals.ĭemand for party and special event costumes quickly evaporated as well.
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