Customers line up outside Chicago Costume on Halloween 2020.
By Ed Avis
Depending on who you talk to, Halloween 2020 was either fantastic or a complete bust. The NCA’s own survey, sadly, leans towards the “bust” side of that spectrum.
But first the happy reports.
In an article in the New York Times two days before Halloween, Scott Morris of Morris Costumes said, “We have sold more decorations, more animated props than we ever have in the history of our company,” which dates back to 1965. In an interview with NCA earlier in the month, Morris said about the same thing: “Without question, the décor side of the business is going very, very well.”
The National Retail Federation said it expected consumers to spend just over $8 billion on Halloween, including costumes, candy, greeting cards and décor. Last year the figure was $8.8 billion, so this year was expected to be down just a little.
A report from the National Confectioners Association showed that candy sales were running 13 percent ahead of 2019, as of mid-September; and another Halloween-related vendor association reported anecdotally that many members had done very well.
Those are all good-looking figures…but notice that those figures aren’t coming directly from Main Street retailers. The story there is quite different: According to an NCA survey conducted last week, 70 percent of costume shop owners reported that costume sales in 2020 were “Much Worse Than 2019” and 85 percent said costume rentals were “Much Worse Than 2019.” Ouch! Only about 18 percent of respondents said costume sales were better this year compared to last year.
Décor did slightly better: Only 46 percent said sales of décor were “Much Worse Than 2019.” About 27 percent said décor sales were the same as last year, and 15 percent said they were better.
How could Main Street retailers have reported diminished sales when the manufacturers reported improved sales? Possibly because many consumers shopped online this year instead of going into stores. That’s not surprising considering COVID, but let’s hope that trend reverses next year.
Reasons for Optimism
Some NCA members did have a solid Halloween. Among them was Julie Keck of Starline Costumes in San Antonio. Keck says overall her sales were about the same as last year, but considering the situation, that's great.
"We did five tent sales where we sold a lot of old rental costumes," Keck reports. "Customers are tired of seeing the same old packaged costumes, but people loved the rentals we were selling. They were older costumes -- some of them hadn't been rented in 15 years -- but the customers appreciated the quality and the price. We built customer base this year."
Keck attributes her success to the fact that she was offering something the big box stores and online retailers weren't offering, and maybe that's a lesson for next year. "If people were counting on packaged costume sales this year, they were out of luck," Keck says.
The NCA’s Help Halloween Happen campaign -- which was designed to stimulate local sales – seems to have slightly helped members who took advantage of it, including Keck, who used the NCA's free poster-creation service to help advertise her tent sales.
Of survey respondents who said they used at least one of the three elements of the Help Halloween Happen campaign, 23 percent reported that costume sales were “Somewhat Better Than 2019” or “Much Better Than 2019.” The NCA will probably do the campaign again next year.
In 2021 Halloween will fall on a Sunday. That’s not quite as good as this year’s Saturday date, but it’s not bad. You can imagine that many Halloween celebrants will be dressing up for parties on the Friday and Saturday right before Halloween, and the kids will have a full day of costume wearing on Halloween itself. This assumes COVID is done by then, of course…but let’s certainly hope that’s the case!
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