Halloween is slowly becoming the new Christmas
Last night was pretty crazy in San Francisco -- it seemed like the whole city was there in the Castro for its annual Halloween night street party. Market Street was packed from Church Street all the way past Castro Street, and Castro Street itself was under a sea of people as far as the eye could see. The crowds last night are no surprise as Halloween becomes more and more important to marketers and revelers according to this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required):
Here's a scary thought: Halloween is slowly becoming the new Christmas.
...Sales of Halloween merchandise have soared to an estimated $6.9 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation, compared with about $2.5 billion in 1996, putting it firmly in second place as a spending occasion. (Halloween spending still has a ways to go before it catches up to Christmas, an annual $200 billion bonanza.)