Thread: Not all Spirit stores are the same

Tweet

So I went to the Spirit store at Livingston Mall in NJ and was soooo disappointed when I found out that they are going to be selling mainly costumes and no props. What's a Spirit store without props?

I found the same thing at the Spirit in the old EXPO in San Jose CA. Many extra wide aisles of pre-packaged costumes and the nicest fitting rooms I've ever seen in a Halloween store, but only five or six full sized props and nothing new.

last year our spirit halloween was absolutly amazing. it was in an old ashley furniture store and it was big, they had like 4 different professionally set up displays, and a ton of props. Normally there is like a building in the store made out of carboard with a facade which house the large props. The store i went to yesterday is in an old linens and things, which didnt take up a quarter of the store. they had a fake forrest set up and half the props on display were broken, they didnt work.

the large props in the fake building were NON existant. only the executioner. in the other "rooms" there was a broken pumpkin and a folding chair, lol.

I asked the one associate if they have any of the larger props like michael and jason, or a stirring witch, and he says "no, but we have costumes".... grrr...

this store just opened the day before, so im hoping that they just didnt get a shipments in or something, because this spirit is very disappointing. the cashier did say they should have a shipment of michael next week, so thats prmoising. I will go back again maybe some time in October. Last year i went to spirit probably 3 times a week.

That's my experience too. Went to a mall and it was the little stuff. Went to one outside the mall in an old Linens and Things and it had everything and still adding. Next week I will have 3 in comfortable driving distance. Woot!

I believe the Spirit kids call that "corporate" versus "consignment" or something thereabouts. It's like the chain fast food joints; some are owned by the corporation outright and may receive more robust product offerings and corporate support, while the others are locally owned franchises and operate a bit differently. The Spirit I visited last week had a pretty full loadout, and the operator was excited about it because he had gotten more stuff and it was all brand new. This enthusiasm for receiving what I would have thought any store would have gotten leads me to believe that the franchise store owners are used to getting a pretty weak load of goods. The Halloween Express I visited looked like hell on opening day. I'm going to check our other versions of both stores and see what they are like.

A further note about enthusiasm: the Spirit operator was overtly excited about his store and merchandise. We walked in and he took us on a tour of their prop diorama setups and new products. I don't remember the last time I was in a store and somebody actually understood what they sold and was happy to show it off. I plan on returning.