Ballad of a Seasonal Halloween Store

Today I had to drop my car off to get fixed, my friend and future rommate Trevor graciously woke up early to bring me back to my apartment, on the way back we passed a newly erected seasonal Halloween store.

Trevor immediately perked up and said how much he loves those stores, and I had to smile myself as memories of a young Popkin excitedly approaching the halloween store at the Burlington Mall.

Halloween is without question the greatest non-religious holiday there is. Owning a year-round halloween store is right up there with owning a comic-book store or a baseball card shop as top fantasy jobs that would be awesome to own if there were no economic ramifications like going bankrupt.

But today, as I soaked in the sight of the sloppily painted orange building, I didnt feel any joy. All I could think about was what a harsh business the world of seasonal halloween stores is.

Think about this way...have you ever seen a Halloween Store occupy the same rent space? The one at the Burlington Mall seemed to be in a completely random spot each year! How frustrating must this be for the store proprietor?? Ever September you have to scrounge, nervously wondering where you will end up....then its a scramble to stock your store....and every season, a small part of you is hopeful that this will be the year that they let you stay longer than a month..this could be the year they give me a spot to call me own....but they never do. You're a novelty store.

Then the rush of your customers begins to wear by mid October when you realize that everyone comes in and looks at your pimp array of masks and perfectly packaged costumes, only then to see the $80 price tags and leave with a package of fake blood capsules instead....then next year they realize they can go to Wallgreens and get the same blood-capsules for 2 dollars less AND get their fun-size Snickers in one fell swoop.

And the minute November 1st rolls around you're ENTIRE store is obsolete.

Orange, and obsolete.

Yet another year goes by and you still didnt sell that authentic rubber Batman mask. So what next? Now you have to either sell all your crap at clearence or ship it to a Warehouse in Western Massachusetts.

Then for 3 months you look at this empty orange building that still has a couple "We're Open!" signs left in it, cuz it didnt make any sense to keep them cuz they only cost 10 bucks to print at Kinkos.

Then its back to crossing off the days until September rolls around and you start the vicious cycle all over again.....its a thankless job but I guess somebody's got to do it.