Episode 532
Spirit Halloween: The Ghost That Haunts Leases
Halloween’s now a $13.5 billion biz, and yep, we’re weirdly spending more on spooky setups than actual candy. I’m talkin’ about folks dropping $115 on average, with about $4.4B on costumes, $4.3B on decorations and only $4.1B on candy — so your yard’s got a graveyard vibe while the trick-or-treaters get handed one sad Tootsie Roll. I remember when Halloween cost my folks twelve bucks and a pillowcase; now it’s artisanal candy and animatronic nightmares. Also, shoutout to Spirit Halloween — they pop into dead strip malls (like ghost landlords), run around 1,500 temp stores full of fog machines and severed heads, make bank, then vanish by Nov 2. We riff on all that — the retail circus, the startup cost of trick-or-treating, and whether your lawn needs a 12-foot skeleton more than your kid needs actual sugar.
Takeaways:
- I joke that Halloween's now a $13.5 billion business—buy a disguise, then go ask strangers for snacks.
- We mention the average person will spend about $115 this year, which is way more than my $12 pillowcase childhood.
- I point out Americans spend roughly $4.4B on costumes, $4.3B on decorations, and only $4.1B on candy—decor wins.
- We clown on Spirit Halloween being the greatest pop-up biz: about 1,500 temporary stores sprouting in empty malls.
- I call them a 'commercial real estate ghost'—they move into bankrupt storefronts, sell animatronics and polyester Batman suits, then vanish.
Transcript
It's haystack.
Speaker A:And as we make our way into October, a lot of folks will be thinking about Halloween, which is now a 13.5 billion dollar business in America.
Speaker A:13 And a half billion for a holiday whose entire economic business model is buy a disguise, then go to door asking strangers for snacks.
Speaker A:The average person will spend about $115 this year.
Speaker A:When I was a kid, Halloween cost my parents $12 in an old pillowcase.
Speaker A:I guess now you gotta have a costume and professional grade decorations and artisanal candy.
Speaker A:And at this point, trick or treating has a startup cost and candy's not the biggest expense.
Speaker A:In fact, Americans will spend about $4.4 billion on the costumes, 4.3 billion on the decorations, and only 4.1 billion on the candy.
Speaker A:So we're officially spending more money making the house look scary than feeding the children brave enough to approach it.
Speaker A:We spared.
Speaker B:No expense on.
Speaker A:The 12 foot skeleton.
Speaker A:Here's one fun sized Tootsie Roll.
Speaker A:Keep moving along, little one.
Speaker A:And of course then there is Spirit Halloween, which might be the greatest business in America.
Speaker A:A store in your town goes bankrupt.
Speaker A:And before the employees name tags get cold, Spirit Halloween is already measuring the windows.
Speaker B:Nothing was here yesterday.
Speaker B:Suddenly they're here today at the strip mall selling blood and selling gore.
Speaker B:It once was a big toy store, now it's scares from door to door.
Speaker B:Shop, shop, shop, stopping at the Halloween store.
Speaker B:There's a mask with bleeding eyes, severed heads and zombie brides.
Speaker B:There's a giant blow up ghost I'm buying for the lawn.
Speaker B:Demonic possessed pumpkins, animatronic skeletons Shop, shop, shopping at the Halloween store.
Speaker A: t Spirit Halloween has around: Speaker A:They find an abandoned building, fill it with a fog machine, then some severed heads and a polyester Batman costume for 70 bucks.
Speaker A:They make a fortune and then disappear by November the second.
Speaker A:There's no evidence they were ever there.
Speaker A:Spirit Halloween is not a retailer.
Speaker A:It's a commercial real estate ghost that haunts commercial leases.
