Halloween Business is Slow

With Halloween a week away, kids and parents are usually busy working on costumes, buying props and scary music machines, and stocking up on candy.

This year however, it seems business is a little slower than usual at North Plymouth's well-known costume shop Family Kloset. 

"It's very slow,"Peter Klammer said Monday. "We're not doing the business we did last year. Last year we did three times what we've done so far this year."

Klammer said the reasons for slow business are many. First, Halloween is on a Wednesday, meaning there will be fewer parties (with a few notable exceptions). People also seem to be spending less.

Customers also don't seem to know what they want to be for Halloween.

"Usually people have an idea of the costume they want," Klammer said. "This year, they come in and just wander around until something strikes them."

Costumes people are buying include gangster and flapper, politicians, or zombies, which are easier and can be created using things people have around the house, some makeup or a mask.

With the summer's popular superhero movies, Klammer stocked up on Spiderman, Batman and various Avengers costumes, but they aren't selling as he had hoped.

Family Kloset has hundreds of pre-packed costumes available for kids and adults, a variety of makeups, fake scars and wounds, wigs, and more.

But for the hardcore Halloween lovers, Family Kloset's second floor is filled with costumes for rent, with everything from gorilla suits, to Freddy Krueger sweaters and gloves, to Roman Legionnaire costumes, and sexy witch outfits to Renaissance dresses, to Mae West or Marilyn Monroe's famous white dress.