[CaliforniaMelanie]

Also, Spirit stores used to be WAY worse as far as the cost/quality ratio. .

Everything did! Oh gracious. Remember the vinyl "apron" style costumes with hideous painted cheap-o masks? We used to think those (which are actually classics now, naturally!), a cool bucket (or more usually, a plastic ToT bag decorated in an H'ween theme) and Brach's Mellocremes equated to a good holiday selection.

We really are looking at the season from our own expectations and our own creativity, not seeing some new decline...IMO. If anything, the pickings are amazingly huge and quite detailed - and yeah, less flimsy - compared to yesteryear, even in Walmart, forget about superstores with thousands of selections like Spirit. And yes, decor has improved in quality, drastically. We today see a pole with a little material flying around and two LED lights that we don't feel look realistic enough, I see something pretty darned sweet-looking compared to cardboard cutouts or an unnatural-looking $2.50 devil mask propped up on the porch.

And yes, even comparing just a few years ago to the latest selections, Spirit does seem to have some really fun new releases. (Again, can't speak for the other stores as I haven't checked online and don't usually have them around me to scout out.)

I'm not trying to completely negate your observations, OP, of course critiques will always make a difference to haunters. ETA: and, oh yeah, I'm not trying to lecture. I was lectured recently (not on here) on my lecturing! Not my intent. Just pointing out that the overwhelming majority of H'ween shoppers are not looking for props that will last them the next 5-10 years. They're just glad if their stuff lasts out the night, then it pretty much goes in the trash or gets stuffed in the back of the garage with the vague thought of taking them out next year. For an animatronic, as long as it moves and is scary in darkness which covers any unrealism and gets a few good scares (or at least yelps of surprise) is generally the goal. We are just...different from the norm.

 

[CaliforniaMelanie]

Christmas two weeks ago, heck - there was a Christmas in July special on QVC or one of those channels (don't remember which one, I was just flipping past).

H'ween does indeed have a very short (mass) selling season.

 

[CaliforniaMelanie]

About the 50% off thing: except for freaks like us, LOL, Halloween-specific stores aren't seeing a lot of traffic except for that one isolated time period during the year. I would imagine they have to make their bucks fast, or not at all (or practically not at all) for the rest of the year. Sure, in dribs or drabs (online) but nothing like the Halloween season itself, when people who really aren't into making props and perhaps are just buying for that one H'ween party or the one night need something quick.

People like to mis-quote and mis-quote again a rumor that Halloween is the second largest holiday retail season (in the U.S.), but this is false. Actually, last I checked, Halloween was well down the list, below Mother's Day and even Valentine's Day (believe it or not). I'd have to re-check those stats but I do know the last I checked was only last year. Giant retailers are going to go for cheap, quick, and saleable "generalized" items if they want to move their H'ween items (and many years don't even then, as evidenced by products coming back the next year). At least if they want to stay in business. I'm not defending markups, but once again...these are businesses we're talking about here. They have to make a profit, or they're gone.

I'm glad that you found better offerings at HA and HA, but I wonder how long that will last. They too need to stay in business and generally (not always, I know) that means going for the cheapest manufacturing methods possible while attaching a markup. That's just the evolution (de-volution?) of many big chains. As their size begins to approach Spirit's (or if), you may start to see lesser quality...or, as is my case, you may simply start to get dissatisfied as you will see them rolling out the same old things in ensuing years and because you are focusing so intensively on quality and on the holiday itself, unlike the average consumer who is just looking for a little fun and maybe a scare or two on one day a year.

I'd like everything I love to be 50% off. But honestly, if the world were that way then everything would just start out being marked up 50% in addition to the standard markup. Honestly, these ARE businesses and in order to stay in business they have to make money. So I get that not everything can be had at a steal. For the average person who is just looking for basic H'ween decor, and not looking to deck out the entire yard and inside of the house, that's much more easy to swallow - and that IS the average person (v., again, obsessed individuals like ourselves, LOL). For the rest of us, well, as you say, that's why we build our own props and/or "spook up" standard/general offerings. But that's just us. We are not the majority. (And don't you like it that way? I love being different.)

That said, thank you for the review and the recommendations. Those we can always use around here.

 

[CaliforniaMelanie]

Hmmm...well, I never know whether the stores are getting more "bland," or whether it's just because I concentrate so intensively on Halloween that I'm always trying to raise the bar.

I think any store of pretty much any type will have lots of leftovers from previous years, a lot of items that are more across-the-board "appropriate" to the holiday (in order to reach the widest audience for potential sales) and will not necessarily be able to raise that bar in the way that someone who is seriously into a specific theme or holiday will do on a personal level.

Personally, I just love visiting the H'ween stores because doing so gets me in the mood for H'ween. I think Spirit does offer tons of stuff so I'm not going to knock it. I just love getting into the "H'ween mood" by stepping into a store that's all about H'ween. I don't necessarily buy when I go in (though I sometimes do), but I definitely am glad these stores exist.

As for HA and HE, once in a blue moon we'll get an HE set up around here but not often. Most years, I don't see one at all. If you're referring to online purchases, again, my favorite part is being IN the store so I just don't generally shop those places.