Zombie Barneys! The Genius of Spirit Halloween

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The company can afford to laugh. It’s anticipating its best year ever. Halloween spending is projected to climb to $10 billion in 2021, up $2 billion from last year, according to the National Retail Federation, and Spirit Halloween is by far the biggest Halloween retailer.

A few years later, Spencer’s/Spirit Halloween was sold off to a restructuring shop that brought in Steven Silverstein, the president of the big-box retailer Linens ’N Things, as CEO. When Silverstein got hired, Spencer’s was the dominant concept and Spirit was dormant for much of the year — “now they’re pretty much neck and neck,” according to Silverstein, although the company, which is private and does not disclose its earnings, won’t get more specific than that.

That may also be because the merchandise is mostly unique to this store. The company designs and develops 80 to 90 percent of the products it sells, according to Kym Sarkos, the executive vice-president and general-merchandise manager for marketing and product development.

It’s not just the holiday that’s increasingly popular; Spirit itself has developed and nurtured a cult following. The store’s superfans, known as Haunters, obsessively discuss its animatronic creatures on Wiki pages and post videos of their visits and product reviews on YouTube, all of which drive sales and foot traffic. It’s not uncommon for people to visit the neighborhood Spirit multiple times during the holiday season or to go to different local stores to compare displays and products.

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