Thread: Spirit store impressions/experiences; post 'em here.

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I've stopped in the Spirit nearest me twice since it opened on Friday. They have a lot of stuff, but not many of any of the bigger things.

I like the tall candelabra a lot. I think it's even worth the $100 they're asking. In fact, the whole line from the small singel candle version on up seems to be really high quality--very surprising in a Halloween prop any more. I'll probably pick up the 3 candle version if they still ave it next week. they only have 2.

they have one or 2 of all the animated figures. The rat eating the zombie torso struck me as more comical than scary. All the figures worked. the haunted urn was sort of cool but more expensive than i want to pay right now. I'm not into zombie babies but they had at least 2 of each. they have a decent hard plastic 1/2 skull and 2 different foam zombie heads. they have a lot of costumes, masks and make up. they have a decent lighting section with a wide variety of LED candles, strobes, strings of lights, black lights. they have at least 3 different foggers. there was also the regular collection of rats, bats, vultures crows, severed heads, Bluckys, and GitD skulls.

Oveall i'm pretty happy with the store. some of the props are a bit cheesy but then that happens every year and in every store. some of the figures have bad anatomy or the proportions are wrong, but the figures that are good are actually pretty good. i like the frankenstein monster.

Spirit this year is the best i have seen for a really long time.They had all the animatronics setup and working along with a fog machine and alot of halloween music.Last time i saw one this good was about ten years ago.Im going to check some other ones in my area to see if im just lucky or they are all improved this year.I like the theme this year better than the last two as well.

The Spirit near me's old place was bought by a kickboxing school(totally needed of course), so they had to go to a smaller place.

And you can tell it's a smaller place.

The older place allowed their stuff to breath. It had two rooms in the same building. One room was used for bigger, animatronic props/kid's costumes/masks/accessories and the other room was used for smaller props/adult costumes.

Now? It's all crammed together in this tiny, brightly lit space. There's barely even a selection of masks now, shoved to the back right of the store as you come in. everything is hard to find. you get lost in the middle half assed mazes they've built. The smaller props/novelties amount to basically a makeshift table off the center of the room. If you're an above average sized person you feel cramped as hell.

Their selection of merchandise is, of course, good. But they had their old space for a couple of years, and they found a great balance between everything. But now? They've thrown themselves off big time and it shows.

Oh well. Maybe they'll find a bigger place next year.

None of the Spirit Stores near me are open yet. This is the latest they have ever opened. I don't know if it is because of the economy or they are just cutting back. They use to always open mid August and I remember many years ago some stores would even open the beginning of August. I wasn't too impressed last year but the year prior I went to the one in my old neighborhood and they really knew how to set the store up. Hopefully this year will be better if they ever open.

Found this vid. Two display props not working properly. Of all the vids I've seen for 2011 spirit stores, one prop is missing in every one- ROSEMARY. Probably the best animated prop this year. I'm getting a strange feeling Rosemary will not make it to market, even online. Hope I'm wrong. If you get dizzy, this vid will annoy you. When will people learn how to film?

I havent had time to sit and type my experience. It was bad. Very bad. Even my wife was upset. First off, over the last 2 years our area Spirit has stocked less and less. more open floor space and not a very big selection. This year I had my hopes up a bit seeing as how Spirit was really promoting their Zombiewasteland theme and putting out the videos.

Our store opened up on Monday. What a major disappointment. I couldnt believe how much open floor space they had. There are NO displays. NO animatronics or props set up. Everything is just stacked in various locations in their boxes/packaging. I asked one of the 3 people working why their are no displays or demos set up. I was told that te reason this store was not set up like the other Spirits is because "we are located in a high crime area". WTF? They are actually in the main shopping area of our locale and are located only a couple miles in both directions of the more higher end communities. As far as demos being set up I was told that too many people "play with the items and break them" so they dont set them up??????? Halloween music. There was none playing. They had on a Britney Spears CD!!! I kid you not! I asked about that. I was just replied to with an "Oh well". While all this was going on my wife was trying to get help with a costume piece. She tried 2 of the 3 workers and neither would assist her. They told her that they didnt know what she wanted from them. What you see is what we have. She was only asking if they had a particluar accessory item that she couldnt find.

This was the last straw for me with Spirit. HalloweenMania got $135 of my money this year and they will probably get a bit more. Spirit is getting nothing and Im making sure Im telling everyone I know about the experience.

Originally Posted by Shadowbat

(horror story)

This was the last straw for me with Spirit. HalloweenMania got $135 of my money this year and they will probably get a bit more. Spirit is getting nothing and Im making sure Im telling everyone I know about the experience.

You need to call the corporate office and complain. You need to get your Halloween friends in the area to call and complain. Clearly, the people who run the Spirit in your town need to have that privilege revoked and the only way they'll know there's a problem is if you tell them!

Great selection and fantastic prices. You can't beat the prices with the 20% off coupon. The layout of the store was big enough to enjoy "window shopping" but small enough to jump when some props were activated.

My local store has had the same management for the last 4 years. It is like "coming home".

Originally Posted by Xane

You need to call the corporate office and complain. You need to get your Halloween friends in the area to call and complain. Clearly, the people who run the Spirit in your town need to have that privilege revoked and the only way they'll know there's a problem is if you tell them!

I got a recording when I called so I have since sent an email via their website and posted my experience on their facebook page.

Shadowbat, that is a big drag. Hopefully the Spirit gods will read it here on the forum. I'm sure that is not how they want to be represented.

My Spirit store just opened, and I did my first pass thru. They had plenty of costumes but it just felt...like less. I dunno why. Maybe because it was still clean and in order?

The prop displays were out, but they hadn't put in the props yet. (they had a few, like the Scream guy, Excorcist girl).
Probably going back later this week. One thing I did notice was prices for the smaller (impulse) items. Kinda high. The bottle of latex was $16.99 and Michaels has it $9.99.