(Filed Under wholesale Costume News). For several months, retailers and wholesalers who sell Halloween costumes and other products have been predicting dramatically lower sales than usual this year.

One indication of just how significant the decline may be can be seen in the planning by a major Halloween retailer, Party City.

This year the company said it will open just 25 pop-up Halloween stores, despite the fact that the event falls on a Saturday, the day that insiders say is the best day for costume sales. Last year Party City opened “approximately 275 Halloween City pop-up stores in preparation for a busy Halloween season,” according to press releases from the retailer.

Party City has about 850 full time specialty party supply stores (including franchise stores) throughout North America.

Despite the smaller number of pop-ups, Party City said it is hiring “approximately 20,000 temporary employees” for the season. It added that surveys show that “96 percent of parents plan to celebrate Halloween this year, while 70 percent of them seek alternatives to traditional trick-or-treating.” The retailer added it “will continue to offer the safety and convenience of its contactless shopping experiences including curbside pickup, same day delivery, online shopping and in-store contactless mobile phone payments to check out quickly.”

A key category this year will be “a wide variety of stylish new face masks that complement any costume.” — NM

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Published 09-23-2020 by Nick Monjo