Charlotte’s not scared to celebrate Halloween despite COVID-19, costume retailers say

The coronavirus pandemic isn’t spooking people away from celebrating Halloween around Charlotte, according to local retailers.

Hand sanitizer costumes are hot this year and so are skeleton decorations, even as people are required to don masks to enter the Halloween and party stores because of COVID-19.

Scott Morris, owner of Charlotte-based Morris Costumes, which bills itself as the world’s largest costume distributor, said sales started picking up in August and are on track to match last year’s. While costumes and makeup are selling well at the 55-year-old-store, decorations are the No. 1 item this year.

“We’ve not sold so much animation and decor in the history of the company. It’s unbelievable,” Morris said.

For example, he said they’ve sold about 1,000 large, animated dragons that sell for about $500 — that’s double the amount of typical sales. Morris said they’ve also sold more than 5,000 skeletons of all sizes this year, which is another record.

The family-owned Morris Costumes business, founded by Scott’s mother Amy and his late father Philip, has a year-round retail store on Monroe Road and a 300,000-square-foot distribution center on Morris Estate Drive. Morris also has about five pop-up stores in Charlotte and 100 stores across the country as a franchisor of Halloween Express stores.

“This is going to be an absolutely fantastic Halloween,” Morris said. “Stores are doing very well across the country, both online and in-store.”

The biggest challenge as a wholesaler, Morris said, is that stores cut back on Halloween merchandise early on but now everybody’s trying to order and it’s putting a strain on his distribution center to keep up. He said Morris Costumes ships about 20,000 packages a day worldwide, from Australia to Saudi Arabia.

According to the National Retail Federation, more than 148 million U.S. adults plan to participate in Halloween-related activities and spend more than $8.05 billion, down from $8.78 billion last year, according to the website. And people who are celebrating plan to spend $92.12 on average, the most in 15 years, mainly on home decorations, candy and greeting cards.

Safely trick-or-treat

Mecklenburg County health officials are discouraging people from going to haunted houses and large parties but say trick-or-treating can be done safely.

The health department advises bagging candy individually for grab-and-go for less contact. And, even with a costume mask, a proper face covering should be worn to avoid infecting others.

Morris Costumes customer Ryan Hale said he still expects to see plenty of trick-or-treaters. He said they’ll put candy separated in bags so people don’t flood his doorstep.

“We’ll try to do it the safest way we can,” he said.

Still dressing up

Even without many new movies this year, Disney and DC comic costumes remain popular with children, according to Morris

However, this year also has ushered in coronavirus costumes. The 500 hand sanitizer costumes sold out, Morris said. Also popular are toilet paper and COVID-19 beer bottle with mask costumes, he said.

Amy Morris said another difference this year is more people are buying costumes instead of renting.

Spirit Halloween, which calls itself the largest Halloween retailer in the country, and has eight Charlotte area pop-up stores, said the top costumes are Harley Quinn and Beetlejuice, as well as 2020-inspired hazmat and plague doctor costumes. Props to create “Karen” and “Tiger-King” costumes with wig mullets, eyebrow rings and flower crowns also are popular.

National chain Party City, with several Charlotte-area stores, said the No. 1 costume this year is “slasher-themed” like Mike Myers, Chucky and Pennywise, followed by gamer-themed like Fortnite and Halo.

Also popular are everyday hero inspiration like doctors, nurses, firefighters and police officers. And its top 10 list also includes “Tiger-King” and election-inspired themes.

Store safety protocols

At Morris Costumes and Halloween Express stores customers can still try on costumes. Any costume or prop a person touches is held in quarantine for 48 hours, Amy Morris said.

Customers also can try on latex masks, Scott Morris said, with a disposable face mask. The latex masks are disinfected before and after a customer tries them on.

The stores also give free face masks to customers without one and follow social distancing guidelines, Scott Morris said. Anyone uncomfortable going to the store can order online.

Party City offers in-store, contactless mobile phone payments, and requires masks while shopping, according to the company. Curbside pick-up, same-day delivery and online shopping also are available.

Spirit Halloween has several in-store safety measures, such as wearing face coverings, social distancing markers, plastic shields at registers, increased disinfecting and store capacity limits, according to the company.

“We agree (with customers), we all need Halloween now more than ever,” Steven Silverstein, Spirit Halloween CEO, said in a news release when stores reopened in August.

Spirit Halloween, with 1,400 stores across the country, has teamed up with Instacart for same-day delivery. Chris Rogers, vice president of retail at Instacart, said searches for ‘Halloween’ on Instacart are up more than 650% year-over-year.

More businesses celebrate

Other businesses are getting into the Halloween spirit, too.

For the first time, Lowe’s home improvement stores are offering trick-or-treating from 6-7 p.m. Oct. 22 and Oct. 29 with curbside, drive-thru at all stores to get candy and a small pumpkin. Families can visit Lowes.com/DIY to reserve a spot.

Krispy Kreme is offering a free doughnut to anyone wearing a costume on the holiday.

And, Charlotte-based Belk announced Tuesday it’s offering a way for customers to show their Halloween spirit through an online costume contest Oct. 26–31 and a chance to win a store gift card.

Customers are encouraged to create costumes found both in-store and at home, and post photos on Instagram and Facebook, according to a company news release. Belk employees also will dress in costumes and add treats to free store pickup orders during the contest.

More seasons to celebrate

Naturally, Halloween is Morris Costumes’ biggest season of the year, but Morris expects to see an uptick with Christmas, too — three times the amount as normal already for decorations.

“I’m convinced Santa suit sales will be through the roof,” he said. More nativity scene and decoration drive-bys could be on tap because if people can’t go out and do things, they’ll do it at home.

Easter Bunny costume sales were the highest ever this year, Morris said, after cities and counties canceled egg hunts and people took children’s pictures at home.

“This is the type of thing this country needs, people out having a good time,” Morris said.

This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 2:58 PM with the headline "Charlotte’s not scared to celebrate Halloween despite COVID-19, costume retailers say."