A survey of costume businesses in late June showed that shops are slowly reopening, but customers are not flooding back.
“This survey reveals the basic fact that shoppers are still anxious about COVID, even though they have been cooped up for months,” says NCA Executive Director Ed Avis. “But at least costume shops in many parts of the country now have a chance to open their doors, which most haven’t done since early March.”
The survey was completed by 47 businesses, including 36 costume shops and 11 vendors to the industry. Among the 36 costume shops, 11 percent of them are still closed. Twenty-five percent are fully reopened and 39 percent are open but with limited hours. The remainder are open by appointment only or are selling only via the internet or phone.
Looking only at the 23 costume shops that have reopened either fully or with limited hours, a dozen of them report that sales are bad (“we have very few customers”). Nine of them said sales are OK (“we have a trickle of customers, but not as many as pre-COVID”). That leaves two more respondents, one of whom said sales are “Decent” and one who said sales are “Amazing.”
For the 11 vendors who replied to the survey, the situation is a little healthier. Five of them said business is OK, and two said business is about the same as before COVID. Two of the vendors said sales are bad; one said sales are amazing; and one is still closed.
Precautions
The survey also asked the shop owners what precautions they are taking. Nearly all of them – 95 percent – said their employees wear masks, and two-thirds of them said they require customers to wear masks.
The other popular precautions include limiting the number of customers in the store (48 percent); sanitizing costumes after someone tries them on (57 percent); and not allowing customers to test make-up (48 percent).
A key issue among costume shop owners is what to do with rental costumes when they are returned. The survey asked an open-ended question on that topic: “What precautions do you take when customers return rental costumes?” Here is a sample of the responses:
“Costumes go into a ‘quarantine’ for a week, then all pieces are washed/or steamed. During October, we will ask all rental customers to return their costume dry cleaned.”
“Each is steamed and aired before returning to stock.”
“We spray with alcohol and launder them.”
“Just be received in a plastic bag. All costumes are washed or hung out in our back room for 3 days after being sanitized.”
“No try-ons.”
“We limit the amount of costumes each costumer can try on and we steam or wash them after each try on.”
Worried About Halloween
The survey also asked about how the shop owners are feeling about Halloween. Confidence is low: 63 percent of respondents think COVID will prevent a normal Halloween. Nearly all the rest said they are “slightly optimistic” that Halloween will be OK, but not as good as if COVID didn’t exist.
On the other hand, vendors are somewhat optimistic. Only three of the vendors – 28 percent – said they are worried that COVID will prevent a normal Halloween. Forty-five percent of them replied “I think we’ll do OK,” and 18 percent said, “I think we’ll have a solid Halloween.” One vendor said Halloween will be great, “I think the world is ready for a party and Halloween will be big.”
The divide between shop owners and vendors extends to the Halloween & Party Expo, which is still scheduled for January 2021. Of the costume shop owners who normally attend the event, only about 14 percent said they plan to attend the upcoming event; about half said maybe. The remaining 38 percent said they won’t attend.
On the other hand, of the 10 vendors who said they normally attend the HPE, four said they plan to attend and three said maybe. The remaining three will not attend.
The NCA is working on a campaign to help members make the most of Halloween by working with their local municipalities and other local businesses. Stay tuned for details!
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