LV Halloween dealers expect to beat predicted retail sales slump

A national trade group predicts Halloween sales will be scary, but a couple of local fantasy merchants disagree.

HalloweenMart at 6230 S. Decatur Blvd. has enjoyed a small increase in sales rather than the slump that was expected, Vice President Heather Siegel said.

"I have actually been scrambling now to purchase more product," she said. Manufacturers are trying to increase costume production.

Gillian Gardner, operator of Show Off! Las Vegas Costumes at 6400 S. Eastern Ave., said costume rentals for residents are down, but reservations from tourists are up.

"We have a couple of big Halloween balls," Gardner said. "A lot of people come here and get married wearing costumes on Halloween."

After reaching $5.77 billion last year, their highest in at least four years, Halloween sales nationally are expected to decline 17.7 percent to $4.75 billion, a survey from trade group National Retail Federation shows. Average spending also is expected to decline 15.4 percent to $56.31 from $66.54.

The two Las Vegas shops focus on different market segments, but they both offer customers a temporary escape from the dreary recession.

"Be whoever you want to be one night, and no one is going to judge you," Siegel said.

Said Gardner of nonprofessional customers: "Once they get a disguise on, all of a sudden their inhibitions go away."

Gardner, who has been in business 20 years, rents costumes to adults only. A customer can rent the same kinds of fitted outfits that Las Vegas showgirls buy from her, for example.

One recent favorite is Johnny Depp's Capt. Jack Sparrow character from "Pirates of the Caribbean." However, Gardner said: "My clients come to me because they don't want to be like everyone else."

Her shop, where she does business by appointment only, looks like a dressing room for a Strip casino show.

"I don't have any plastic witches' noses on the wall," she said.

The average rental tab is $85 to $90.

At HalloweenMart, customers can buy a ballerina outfit for the family dog or a child's outfit of the Snake Eyes character from the movie "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra."

For adults, "Michael Jackson is pretty hot right now. So are vampires," Siegel said.

Children's costume prices run from $10 to $90. One top-shelf costume is a $70 mermaid suit.

For adults, prices start at $20 and run over $600 for realistic-looking Darth Vader, Batman and Superman suits.

HalloweenMart has been in business for 15 years and believes it was the first Las Vegas store to sell Halloween costumes year-round. It boosts its 10 person staff to 100 during the Halloween season. The company also sells online.

While Halloween sales are small compared with the $444 billion retail industry, the figures offer updated guidance in consumer sentiment heading into the crucial holiday season after the end of back-to-school sales, the industry's second-largest shopping season, analysts have said.

The International Council of Shopping Centers on Monday projected a 1 percent increase in holiday sales in November and December, after they posted their worst decline on record.

About 62.1 percent of people plan to celebrate Halloween this year, down from 64.5 percent last year, with those celebrating participating in fewer activities. The number of people who said they will dress in costume, carve a pumpkin, throw or attend a party and hand out candy also slid.

Among the biggest culprit for the decline: young adults. The average 18- to 24-year-olds plan to curtail their spending by 20.8 percent, to $68.56 from $86.59 last year, in the face of record-high unemployment among teens and college students.

The survey polled 8,526 shoppers Sept. 1-9.

Marketwatch contributed to this report.