For retailers, Halloween is one of the least frightening holidays around.
As you've probably noticed, it's mid-September and the Halloween candy and costumes are showing up in force in Whatcom County stores. The seasonal stores also have started popping up around Bellingham, filling in some vacant retail space.
Spirit Halloween is planning to open stores in the former Good Guys! building on East Bellis Fair Parkway (next to Value Village) and in the Sears wing of Bellis Fair mall. According to its Facebook page, Bellingham-based Spookshop plans to open stores in Birch Bay Square and at 3550 Meridian St. in Bellingham (near Cornwall Park).
Except for Christmas, Halloween is the biggest when it comes to temporary holiday stores. Last year about $5.8 billion was spent on Halloween in the U.S., according to the National Retail Federation, well-behind the holiday shopping season of November/December ($450 billion, according to the NRF).
Other holiday spending numbers according to the NRF: Easter ($14.6 billion), Valentine's Day ($14.1 billion) that unofficial Super Bowl holiday ($10.1 billion), St. Patrick's Day ($4.1 billion) and the Fourth of July ($2.3 billion spent on food for cookouts).
Interestingly, more money was spent last year on adult costumes (just under $1 billion) than children's costumes (slightly more than $800 million), according to the NRF. At nearly $1.8 billion, candy was the biggest expenditure.
Like back-to-school shopping, Halloween represents an early indicator to retailers on what the holiday season might be like in terms of spending activity. According to a survey done by Value Village, a family of four expects to spend $300 on costumes, decorations and candy for the holiday.
"Halloween is one of our biggest times of the year at Value Village, and it keeps getting bigger. In fact, over the last five years we've seen Halloween sales increase more than 35 percent," said Ken Alterman, president and CEO of Value Village in a press release accompanying the survey.
Along with moving into a bigger space in August, the Bellingham Value Village store spent last month gearing up for Halloween with a bigger selection of new and used costumes, said Brian Willey, district manager for the company. He estimates the space devoted to Halloween costumes increased about 25 percent compared to last year in the old building. They also have a "costume consultant" on hand as well as brochures with tips on creating great costumes.
"Bellingham is a very good Halloween store for us because of the college students," Willey said.
He said the more unique costumes tend to start selling now, while overall sales really pick up throughout the month of October.
NIGHTCLUB COMING TO DOWNTOWN BELLINGHAM
It appears Brian Tines is preparing to bring one more nightclub to Bellingham.
Last week Tines filed a state liquor license application to start a nightclub at 211 E. Chestnut St., formerly home to The Nightlight Lounge. The proposed name for the new nightclub is The Underground, according to the application.
Tines, who operates Main Street Bar & Grill in Ferndale, The Royal in Bellingham and The Big Fat Fish Co. in Fairhaven, closed the Fairhaven Pub & Martini Bar in August.
The Nightlight Lounge closed for good last year.
OTHER TIDBITS
• Tenant improvement permits were approved by the city for the new Marshalls store at 3922 Meridian St., in the former Linens-N-Things space.
• Tenant improvement permits also were approved for a new massage studio called Massage Envy in the former Espinoza Mexican Restaurant space in the Sehome Village Shopping Center. Massage Envy has hundreds of facilities across the U.S., including nearby in Everett, Mill Creek, Shoreline and Woodinville.
• Permits were submitted to the city to convert the former Dream on Futon building into a three-story, mixed-use building. In a previous article, Dave Hovde, a partner in the project, said the redesigned building would have about 35 apartment units and additional commercial space. If started later this year, it would take about 10 months to complete.
• The Kulshan Brewing Co. project at 2238 James St. is also moving forward, with tenant improvement permits filed for the building, which is near Trader Joe's.
