By Ed Avis
Larry Dockter, co-owner of Broadway Costumes & Theatrical Supply in Sacramento, California, has a pretty good feeling about his business in the coming year.
“I’m optimistic because of how October was for us last year,” he says, explaining that he saw about two-thirds of the normal amount of business during last October, despite the pandemic. “I think Halloween will be back this year. Maybe not quite like it was in 2019, but I think a lot of products will be going off the shelves.”
Dockter says he has ordered about the same quantity of costumes and other products as in a normal year. Not only is he thinking Halloween will be solid, but he’s also looking forward to theater groups starting to place orders again.
Larry and Deanna Dockter
“We have the best-stocked theatrical make-up counter in the area, and I see theater starting to gear up,” he says. “I think people will say, ‘Oh, I’m all out of make-up.’”
However, Dockter is somewhat rare among costume business owners this year. According to an NCA survey that went out on May 3, about half of costume businesses have not yet ordered any new costumes or other products this year. Only about 10 percent are in Dockter’s category, having ordered the same or more product. The remaining 40 percent have ordered about half as much as in a normal year.
Despite those early ordering statistics, overall the respondents to the survey are cautiously optimistic about 2021. Twenty-three percent think it will be the same or better than an average year, and 52 percent say it will be below average but still OK. Only about a quarter think the year will turn out substantially below average.
“I think there’s been a slight relaxing of people’s nerves,” Dockter says. “They’re starting to come out more. They’re thinking, ‘I’ve been in hiding long enough.’”
One of Dockter’s recent customers told him he is having open heart surgery soon. A costume party has been on his bucket list, so he came in a rented some costumes for that event. Another customer, from a local college, bought $1,000 worth of make-up. She said it was in her budget and if she didn’t spend it, it would be cut from next year’s budget.
“I said, ‘Yay, now I can pay the rent!,” Dockter laughs.
Vendors to the costume industry are decidedly more optimistic that costume shop owners, according to the survey. Thirty-seven percent of vendors who responded to the survey say that 2021 will be an above-average year, and an equal number say it will be about the same as an average year. Just 26 percent say it will be below average.
And that vendor optimism has been borne out by the orders they’ve received. Thirty-six percent say they’ve received the same or more orders than in previous years, and about that same number say they’ve received at least half the normal quantity of orders. The remaining 28 percent say that orders are less than half of a normal year.
For Dockter, who has seen an uptick in customer traffic in the last few weeks, normalcy seems within grasp: “We’re seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel.”