Spirit Halloween opens pop-up location at Ward Village

By Christina O'Connor – Reporter, Pacific Business News Sep 27, 2022

Seasonal costume and décor shop Spirit Halloween has popped up at Ward Village.

A Halloween-themed retailer, Spirit Halloween carries costumes, decorations, animatronics and other items for the holiday.

The shop occupies the 12,795-square-foot space at South Shore Market that formerly housed Pier 1 Imports. It’s slated to remain open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through Nov. 16.

Pier 1 shuttered in early 2020, when it closed all of its Hawaii stores. Since then, the Ward Village space has served as a temporary home to pop-up concepts.

When asked for any updates regarding permanent plans for the space, a spokesperson for Ward Village told PBN via email, “While we continue working with potential long-term tenants who will contribute to the neighborhood character for Ward Village’s residents and visitors, we’ve enjoyed hosting a series of successful pop-ups for the community’s enjoyment, including the Village Books & Music store by Friends of the Library of Hawaii and now Spirit Halloween.”

Launched in 1983, Spirit Halloween now has more than 1,400 pop-up locations throughout North America each year. Ward Village also hosted a Spirit Halloween store in 2019.

According to the Spirit Halloween website, the Ward Village location is among three stores on Oahu that have already opened this year, with the others in Kapolei and Aiea.

In related retail news, Halloween spending this year is projected to exceed pre-pandemic levels, according to recent data by the National Retail Federation, a retail trade association.

NRF released the results of an annual Halloween survey last week, noting that 69% of respondents plan to celebrate the holiday this year. According to the survey, which was conducted by Prosper Insight & Analytics, that’s up from 65% in 2021, and up from pre-pandemic levels in 2019, when 68% of respondents planned to celebrate. NRF said, given the survey results, it expects total Halloween spending to reach a record $10.6 billion for 2022. Last year marks the current record in expenditures for the holiday at $10.1 billion.

“Halloween is an exciting time for many families, and that enthusiasm is reflected in the number of Americans who plan to celebrate the holiday this year,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement. “As consumers continue to return to pre-pandemic behaviors, retailers are prepared to meet that demand and help make this holiday a fun and memorable one.”

NRF said that costumes account for the largest chunk of Halloween spending. The association forecasts that spending on costumes will reach $2.9 billion this year, which will be the highest amount since 2017.