Ed Avis, executive director of the National Costumers Association, looks at proven ways for retailers to boost Halloween footfall.
Halloween is obviously an important time of year for costume shops, so any ideas to increase sales during October are welcome. In August, we gathered a dozen members of our association via Zoom to share ideas, and one stood out: the power of events.
For example, one of our members in New York said her store sponsors pumpkin-decorating and mask-making events.
“We like to do them outside on our patio,” she explained. “We’ll buy a whole bunch of small pumpkins and the inexpensive decorating kits. They are just stickers and washable markers. We have to run out and buy more pumpkins a lot of times because they’re so well attended. People love it and the kids like to get out early, so we find people actually are waiting at the door for us to open at 10.”
She explained that the mask-making event is also very well attended. She buys simple mask kits from Oriental Trading that consist of a blank foam mask and Halloween-themed stickers.
“It’s a really simple, easy activity,” she explained. “We get toddlers through to 10 year-olds and they love it. We’ll do them two or three Saturdays during the course of October.”
Another member of ours, located in North Carolina, said she hosts events in her store during which make-up artists help customers complete their look. For example, she sells a good number of Beetlejuice costumes and has a make-up artist in the store who can help customers learn how to create the look.
“There’s this one lady here, she does phenomenal, phenomenal makeup,” she said. “And that’s what she’ll do for two, three days – the make-up for people for their costumes.”
A more macabre example of a store event was mentioned by a member of ours in suburban Milwaukee – he plans to run a contest in which the winners get to spend Halloween night in a hearse in front of his store.
“I bought an old hearse last year and put it in front of my store and it drew a lot of attention, so this year I’m doing a promotion called ‘Survive Til Dawn’,” he explained. “Customers will fill out a postcard in the store, one entry per day. The winner will get to sleep over in our hearse on Halloween night, for two adults. So hopefully it’ll draw people into the store.”
Several attendees to the NCA Halloween conversation regularly hold in-store events that make it easy for people with disabilities to choose costumes.
Our member in North Carolina said she holds ‘sensory Sunday’ events that accommodate customers who are uncomfortable with the dramatic sounds and lights that are often found in costume shops.
“We dim our lights and we shut off the music,” she explained. “And a lot of times the parents email us ahead of time and say, ‘My son likes the Red Power Ranger, this is the size that he takes.’ So we can prepare that stuff for him so they can be in and out a little bit faster.”
And the member in New York hosts sensory-free events every Sunday. She promotes the events through local organisations that work with people with disabilities.
“Our Sundays are a very different vibe because we keep the music off all day and we don’t have any of the crazy animatronics going and we lower the lights,” she said. “It’s just a very quiet, calm day. So it’s a nice day for them to bring in their children.”
Sometimes events go beyond the store itself. A member in Brooklyn helped organise a block-wide Halloween event last year. The street was closed and the businesses were invited to set up tables outside. He expects it to occur again this year.
“We will have a clown making balloon animals, we’ll have somebody doing face painting. It’s kind of a costume party,” he said. “We’re not getting too many people coming in for costumes because they already have them, but I’ll sell some Silly Strings, some party snappers, things like that. It’s one big party.”
The bottom-line: Events are a good way to get customers in the door, and Halloween season is a great time to do it. Have fun.
