Get into the holiday spirit.
Spirit Halloween — the festive hangout that pops up in cheap storefronts to sell costumes, accessories and decor — will soon transform into a winter wonderland and become Spirit Christmas, just in time for the holidays.
The festive chain retailer will sell inflatables, stockings, apparel and gifts at select Northeast locations — from Mays Landing, New Jersey, to Erie, Pennsylvania — where shoppers can step inside a life-size gingerbread village , send a letter to the North Pole and meet Santa Claus for a photo-op.
“Spirit Christmas is a new concept for us and we hope it will resonate with our customers,” the company said in a statement to Fast Company.
“Our goal is to create a festive retail experience that captures the spirit of the season, just like we do for Halloween.”
Spirit Halloween began in 1983 as a pop-up in Castro Valley, California, before being acquired in 1999 by Spencer Gifts, which has owned the iconic storefronts ever since.
“They laughed at me and put me in a hidden corner behind an old restaurant. When I made $100,000 in 30 days, they were amazed,” founder Joe Marver told the New York Times in a 2000 interview, via USA Today.
Now Spirit Halloween operates more than 1,500 seasonal stores nationwide each year.
However, Spirit Christmas will only be available in 10 countries.
In New Jersey, holiday shoppers can head to Marlton, Brick, Mays Landing and Woodbridge, and New Yorkers will have to travel to Albany, Bohemia or Poughkeepsie to visit one of the storefronts. There will also be pop-ups in Erie, Pennsylvania; Waterford, Connecticut; and Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
The Mays Landing, New Jersey, location will open its doors early on October 18, with the rest slated for early November, according to Fast Company.
Spirit Halloween became the focus of a “Saturday Night Live” skit last week that drew backlash from the holiday retailer.
After one of the sketches poked fun at Spirit Halloween, the company posted a meme on X of a photoshopped costume pack emblazoned with the “SNL 50” logo. The mock suit, titled “50-year-old TV show trivia,” said it included “dated references,” “unknown cast members” and “dropping ratings.”
“We’re great at raising things from the dead,” the company said.
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Image Source : nypost.com