An indie which truly stands out at Halloween is The Mad Hatter in Yeovil, Somerset. Having taken over the business a year ago, David Bailey is working hard to turn the shop into a destination for all things spooky.
The Mad Hatter has been trading for over 35 years, but in October last year, current owner, David Bailey, bought the business. Before acquiring the store, David’s career was in corporate retail, with no direct experience of running a costume shop, but you wouldn’t know that when looking at his plans for the business. Having taken over just a week before Halloween 2021, this year is his first real chance to provide a Halloween shop for his customers and he has big plans for the month of October and beyond.
Above the main shop is a two-floor flat, which has been transformed into a Horror Shop, helping to make the costume shop a true destination store for horror fans. David tells us: “Last week someone came from Brighton to go into it. Someone this week turned up from Cardiff, because there’s nowhere else around for them. We get people from all over the UK coming to us.
“We started to build the horror shop from January. It’s a Victorian building, which helps with the atmosphere and the look of it being so old helps to fit it in as being a Halloween horror shop.”
To read the full feature in the online issue of Progressive Halloween, simply click here.
