(NEXSTAR) — Big Lots; Bed Bath & Beyond; American Freight; Rite Aid; Party City; JOANN; Forever 21. They’ve all closed stores within the last year due to bankruptcy filings.
But now, those shuttered storefronts are getting another life — a spookier life, if you will.
Though it may not feel like it outside, we’re inching ever closer to fall. That also means Halloween is just around the corner. With that, of course, comes Spirit Halloween.
The seasonal retailer, which has previously acknowledged its ability to raise “things back from the dead,” typically moves into empty retail spaces with the All Hallows’ Eve costumes, decor, and accessories in August or September. Then, shortly after Halloween, the company seemingly leaves town as quickly as it came in.
Here’s what Spirit Halloween seeks in an ‘ideal’ retail location
While Spirit Halloween didn’t respond to Nexstar’s inquiry into the locations it has selected to haunt this year, a spokesperson did offer some insights into its real estate shopping habits to affiliate KDVR last year.
“We look to identify stores in lifestyle centers, strip centers, free-standing stores, major downtown retail locations, and in major malls that are surrounded by a national retailer mix,” the spokesperson said. “Ideal locations for a Spirit Halloween store offer between 5,000 and 50,000 square feet of sales floor space with great visibility.”
Online, the company explains it also looks for spaces within communities that have a population of more than 35,000 living within three to five miles, with a car count of at least 25,000 cars per day.
Thanks to some of those aforementioned closures, Spirit Halloween has found just what they’re looking for.
MUNCY, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES – 2024/08/10: A family exits a Spirit Halloween store operating in a former Best Buy. Spirit Halloween, LLC, a subsidiary of Spencer Gifts, is a seasonal retailer that sells Halloween decorations and costumes at more than a thousand locations each Halloween season. (Photo by Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Take, for example, the more than 800 JOANN stores that shuttered after the fabric and craft company filed for bankruptcy protection in January. In Wisconsin alone, nine Spirit Halloween locations are opening in former JOANN storefronts, an analysis by Nexstar found.
Other locations in the state will take over an abandoned Forever 21, a former Party City, and an old American Freight. Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy in March, Party City went out of business “immediately” in December, and American Freight started shutting down in November.
Spirit Halloween is taking over similar storefronts in New York, for example, as well as old Rite Aid and Big Lots locations. The former filed for bankruptcy in May of this year, while the latter began shuttering stores last summer before also filing for bankruptcy (though some have reopened under new ownership).
Other empty retail spaces that will soon become Spirit Halloween stores — some have already opened — include former Advanced Auto Parts, Stein Mart, Bed Bath & Beyond, Tuesday Morning, David’s Bridal, Toys R Us, Pier 1 Imports, and even old Sears and Kmart stores.
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You can find out which abandoned storefronts Spirit Halloween is taking over near you here.
With the exception of Sears and Kmart, those retailers have closed thousands of locations in recent years, oftentimes blaming economic challenges.
While Spirit Halloween is taking over their retail corpses, the seasonal retailer hasn’t been immune to headwinds, either. In May, Spirit Halloween canceled its annual kickoff event, held at its Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, flagship store, due to “international disruptions and supply chain challenges.”
Have no fear, though. The company said it is “still very much alive.”
