Canada-based retailer Halloween Alley has teamed up with Australia’s leading party retailer Party People for an international pop-up partnership.
The first store will be Australia’s largest (and currently only) Halloween pop-up. It will be opening on Monday 2 September in Westfield Knox, with a free family fun day planned for Saturday 7 September.
The Party People first started 30 years ago and is now Australia’s largest retailer and supplier, with a flagship store based in Sydney. Meanwhile, Halloween Alley opens between 20-40 Halloween pop-up stores in Canada each year and is an expert in opening stores in a short amount of time.
The new store will be opening in a 3,000 sqm space, making it bigger than any party or costume store in Australia. It will stock over 10,000 costumes, candy and Halloween decorations, with many of the products from Canada and so not available anywhere else in Australia.
As ‘chief party dude’ at The Party People, Dean Salakas is particularly excited about the new initiative. “We believe Halloween is growing in Australia and we love what Halloween Alley does so we wanted to take it to another level this year,” he explained.
“For the last few years we have done a one-day pop up store at Sydney Zombie Walk which is Australia’s largest zombie walk (11,000 people in 2018). Last year we also ran a two-week pop up store at Sydney’s major city market, but this year will be the next level.”
The Pary People team will be running the store on a day-to-day basis. “All our employees are make-up artists, actors, cosplayer and lovers of Halloween so I know the store is in good hands,” Dean explained.
“We are getting assistance from Halloween Alley but I am helping to set things up, so I’m excited to learn how these guys do 20-40 stores a year! Ideally we would like to do between two and four stores next year but that will be dependant on some strategic planning as we need to figure out what Australian customers want from a Halloween pop-up chain and then make sure we provide that for them!”
The store will be stocking a number of leading suppliers such as Smiffys, Rubie’s, Disguise, Amscan, Mehron, Wookie, Tinsley, Leg Avenue, Unique and more. The team has also worked with some local make-up suppliers; Matisse Derivan and Tomfoolery.
Innovative technologies will also be available instore, such as a smart mirror which allows customers to try on costumes without physically getting changed.
