What Occurs to Leftover Spirit Halloween Costumes (Unique)

Stroll alongside the partitions of any of the 1,525 Spirit Halloween areas throughout the nation, and you will encounter a well-recognized structure. Within the New York Metropolis flagship retailer, a former Bye Bye Child location, the very first thing you see upon getting into is an immersive haunted home expertise. As you stroll by means of the tunnel, you’re greeted by the candy aroma of cotton sweet.

From there, you may discover what Nikki Balles, Senior Director of PR & Model Picture at Spirit Halloween, refers to because the “cozy part,” stuffed with Halloween-themed pajamas, fleece slippers, an array of canine costumes and $29.99 spooky tumbler cups — together with a extremely sought-after bedazzled model that’s nearly inconceivable to seek out.

Persevering with your journey, you’ll uncover the shop’s DIY wall, stocked with each costume important you may want — hats, bodysuits, wigs and animal ears — to carry even the wildest Halloween costume fantasies to life. This contains equipment for followers wanting to decorate up as Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, as Balles notes that licensing for precise costumes consultant of the pair could be too pricey for the shop.

Subsequent, you’ll discover a wall lined with hundreds of pre-packaged costumes, that includes the whole lot from basic choices like witches, angels and clowns to trending designs that you just may spot in your social media For You Web page. This yr, these costumes vary from the Mob Spouse aesthetic to Skibidi Rest room, an online collection in style on YouTube. You may as well channel essentially the most talked-about moments, together with Haliey Welch-approved Hawk Tuah merch.

Because the Halloween costume season formally kicks off for Spirit once they open their flagship New Jersey location on Aug. 1, the abundance of choices might be overwhelming. However there’s one burning query: the place does all this merchandise go when Halloween is formally over?

“We promote ’em subsequent yr,” Balles tells PEOPLE, pointing to the Barbie costumes hanging on the shelf, which have been nonetheless in style this yr. “We’ve distribution facilities and companions that handle the entire course of.”

“The objective is to promote as a lot as we are able to, but when we do have leftover merchandise — particularly basic objects like witches and pirates that by no means exit of fashion — we use them subsequent yr,” she provides. Spirit wouldn’t affirm the proportion of merchandise they promote every year.

By no means miss a narrative — join PEOPLE’s free each day e-newsletter to remain up-to-date on one of the best of what PEOPLE has to supply​​, from superstar information to driving human curiosity tales.

Balles additionally mentions the corporate’s Spirit of Kids program, a 501(c)(3) group devoted to bringing pleasure to kids in native hospitals. All year long, they associate with 160 hospitals to throw events, offering kid-friendly costumes and different merchandise to brighten their days. Since 2006, Spirit has donated $127 million and hosted quite a few occasions.

“Each greenback we elevate goes on to supporting these hospitals,” she says. “Our objective is to make the hospital expertise much less intimidating for youths by offering enjoyable and fascinating actions.”

As Halloween crept nearer, there have been nonetheless hundreds of costumes on shops cabinets, however Balles says the corporate is already deep into planning for 2025. She says some may assume they solely function round Halloween, however the workforce is frequently conceptualizing and creating merchandise. They’re at present assessing films set to launch subsequent yr and creating associated merchandise.

“There are all types of various departments, together with actual property and product improvement. We actually delight ourselves on providing a various assortment of merchandise tied to films, tendencies and important cultural moments,” she says.

“We take into account ourselves a hybrid retailer, not only a pop-up retailer, as a result of there are such a lot of components that go into opening a retailer,” Balles provides. “You must cease, supply actual property, inventory the shop, get the product in and set the whole lot up — ensuring the air con is working, for instance. There are such a lot of layers concerned, after which you need to pack up, get out and begin planning for the subsequent yr. It’s a posh course of, and we’re not simply popping up out of nowhere.”

When requested in the event that they really feel strain as a model, Balles responds, “No, we love that. I used to be speaking with our CEO final week, and he mentioned, ‘How fortunate are we to be Spirit Halloween?’ When he was requested about our largest competitor or concern, he replied that his largest concern is after we cease loving what we achieve this a lot. I believed that was so spot on as a result of nobody loves what they do greater than our workforce.” Balles provides, “That’s what makes it so enjoyable!”