Yikes, Halloween is a $7B business
From a Wall Street Journal story (subscription required) on Halloween's new focus. I know I'm invited to a friend's annual large Halloween bash. Last year I went dressed in black pants, white shirt, a bowtie and a towel draped over my arm -- I was, wait for it, a dotcom CEO! :)
Forget the kids. One year after the Halloween industry was dealt a blow by the nation's somber post-9/11 mood, retailers trying to revive the $7 billion business are making a special push toward adults. Indeed, such retailers as Martha Stewart (eyeball soap kit, $34) and Pottery Barn (doormat with ghosts, $24) are trying to boost Halloween sales with spooky goods for grown-ups. Even health-care giant Novartis AG is elbowing into the market with creepy contact lenses that give trick-or-treaters the gaze of an alien.
But nowhere is the Halloween competition -- and the potential for embarrassment -- more fierce than the adult-costume business, where some retailers are reporting a 30% rise from last year. This year the lineup includes Target's $25 monster head ("ghoulish ... with a faux-fur border") and a $1,500 duck suit at Costume Holiday House in Columbus, Ohio. For the horizontally challenged, there's even an inflatable sumo wrestler outfit -- just flip a switch for instant girth.