Analysts are predicting a scary Halloween

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Analysts are predicting a scary Halloween season for retailers, with consumers expected to spend about $1 billion less on the holiday this year than last year. Locally, however, sellers are not so easily spooked.

According to a September survey by the National Retail Federation, more than 29 percent of people surveyed said the state of the economy has affected their Halloween plans, with 88 percent planning to spend less overall. Consumers plan to cut back on candy, decorations, costumes and activities, according to the NRF.

Rob Wessels of Waterman hasn’t seen any impact on purchases of pumpkins, gourds and other fall decorations at his DeKalb farmstand, he said. While it’s still too early to tell how the season will pan out overall, so far buying is on track.

“Typically we sell a good mix of everything, and that’s what we’re seeing so far this year,” he said.

Alex Nerad, operations director at the Egyptian Theatre in DeKalb, is also not worried about the holiday. Though the NRF survey found fewer respondents planned to attend a haunted house or other attraction, Nerad thinks the Egyptian’s Amenti Haunted House will still come out on top.

More than 3,000 people are expected to take the half-hour tour through the theater’s six-level haunted house, now in its fourth year, similar to last year’s turnout.

“This event has continued to grow every single year,” Nerad said. “I feel that even in hard times people are looking to be entertained and escape from reality, even for just a little bit.”

Costumes will be a big point of cutback, the NRF said, with almost 16 percent of respondents planning to reuse old costumes and nearly 17 percent planning to make costumes instead of buying them. While the season is starting slow, there is still a good market for costume accessories and individual pieces, said Tony Detzi, vice president of Spirit Halloween stores.

“We think it’s going to be a very late Halloween,” Detzi predicted. “Last year, the banking industry collapsed just as our season was getting started. That scared people, but at the very end they started to buy. We’re expecting the exact same thing to happen this year.”

Spirit usually locates one of its temporary retail stores in DeKalb, but this year was unable to find a landlord willing to commit to a temporary lease, Detzi said.

“We did well in DeKalb last year. We would have liked to have been somewhere in DeKalb County again,” he said.

The NRF projected consumers will spend an average of $56.31 each on Halloween this year, down from $66.54 last year. That includes spending on candy, decorations, costumes, activities and greeting cards. People between the ages of 18 and 24, typically the holiday’s biggest spenders, are cutting back dramatically this year, planning to spend an average of $68.56 each, down from $86.59 in 2008 and $81.91 in 2007.

Halloween projections by the National Retail Federation



62.1% of respondents plan to celebrate Halloween

33.4% plan to wear a costume

71.2% plan to hand out candy

42.4% plan to carve a pumpkin

17% plan to visit a haunted house or other Halloween attraction

32.3% plan to take children trick-or-treating

47.3% plan to decorate home or yard

The average consumer will spend $20.75 on costumes, $17.99 on candy, $14.54 on decorations and $3.02 on greeting cards.

Adults 25-34 years old will spend the most per person, at $69.89.