Even as price tags seem to push the limits of what is normal for an impulse buy, shoppers want Halloween junk. Consumers are expected to spend a record $13.1 billion on the holiday this year, eclipsing the previous record of $12.2 billion spent in 2023, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey.

And while candymakers are preparing for another big year of selling measly packs of trick-or-treat sweets, retailers that aren’t traditionally associated with spooky season are also hoping to cash in on the lust for Halloween purchases:

• Florist UrbanStems is advertising an arrangement of dark purple calla lilies with a custom tarot card as an $86 Halloween bouquet.
• Beverage company Vita Coco got 4,000 new signups for its loyalty program after offering free Halloween costumes for Labubus to program members.

Meanwhile, home improvement chains are still chasing that 2020 Skelly high and hoping to cash in on a holiday that’s not really about home repair. Home Depot and Lowe’s continue to push the release of their Halloween decor lineups earlier and earlier. This year, both retailers announced their over-the-top decorations in July.

But there’s no need to dress up a bargain. Discount stores were the top spot for Halloween shoppers, with 42% of respondents to the National Retail Federation survey saying they would hunt there for low-price skeletal items.—MM

The neighborhood kids’ jack-o’-lantern buckets are about to be as gummy as an elderly Chihuahua, thanks to a West African cocoa shortage that’s led candymakers to lean into neon-colored sweets and other chocolate alternatives in recent times.

For their Halloween trick, confectionery giants are making do with whatever’s in the fridge:

• Only one of Mars’s four new Halloween bulk variety packs contains solely chocolate. Two variety bags contain only Starburst, Skittles, Life Savers, or Hubba Bubba, and the last one is a mix of both the colorful stuff and chocolate.
• On the innovation front, Ferrero’s new Butterfinger is coated in marshmallow cream instead of milk chocolate, and Hershey’s Ghost Toast Kit Kats are dipped in a cinnamon-flavored coating.
• It’s not your imagination—some chocolates are getting smaller. New Kit Kat Counts are more than an ounce lighter than the regular version, per The Atlantic.

On your end, it might also be cheaper to fill a trick-or-treat bowl with gummies than with anything cocoa-related. A bag of “fun-size” chocolates will be an average of $5 more expensive this year than last year, according to Empower research. A quick browse at BJ’s Wholesale Club reveals that you can get a 390-piece sack of Starburst, Life Savers, & Hubba Bubba for a few dollars less than a 200-count bag of 3 Musketeers, Milky Way, Twix, or Snickers.

Looking ahead…cocoa prices are finally tempering, and supply is expected to improve, but candymakers will likely continue hedging with non-chocolate offerings until all the volatility is behind us. Get ready for Lemon Meringue Pie M&Ms in January.—ML

Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, and the person who thought it would be funny to dress up their cat like Guy Fieri: These are some of the geniuses whose ideas have shaped the modern economy.

A recent PetSmart survey found that nearly half of fur baby parents dress up their animals for Halloween. And all of those costumes add up to big bucks. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF):

• Consumers will spend $860 million on pet costumes this year.
• That’s about 61% of what will be spent on human children’s costumes.

It’s not just dogs and cats: Both PetSmart and Petco sell costumes meant for rabbits, guinea pigs, and lizards.

What’s paw-pular

Animal costumes tend to be cute rather than scary, so you won’t see too many cats and dogs dressed up as fleas, ticks, or heartworms. Per the NRF, the most popular pet getups this year are:

1. Pumpkin
2. Hot dog
3. Bumblebee
4. Ghost and superhero (it’s a tie)

Nearly 20% of pet costumes will match their owner’s or family’s, according to PetSmart.

Pet costumes can have knock-on economic benefits, too. Once the pets are dressed up, people want to show them off, and that means photo shoots and parties. Some cities also host dog Halloween parades, which are used to drum up support for local animal rescues.—BC

The store that kinda just appears one night in your local mall like an apparition only has a few months to make a year’s worth of revenue. But thanks to its ~1,500 pop-up locations and 50,000 seasonal workers, Spirit Halloween remains the king of spooky spending.

The early aughts mall icon Spencer Gifts bought Spirit in 1999, and when current Spencer’s CEO Steven Silverstein started in 2003, the Halloween retailer had just 130 stores around the US. Moody’s Ratings recently estimated that Spencer’s and Spirit made about $1.9 billion in 2023—with with Spirit bringing in more than Spencer’s.

The key to success, which has long been immortalized in memes, has been Spirit’s commitment to scooping up short-term leases, especially after bankrupt big-box stores leave:

• The company has always chased nontraditional, monthslong leases, for which commercial landlords usually charge higher fees. But the growing number of big-box vacancies in the last decade has given Spirit more leverage.
• Most retailers sign leases at the beginning of the year, so by midsummer, when Spirit is hunting for empty buildings, there isn’t much competition for whatever’s available.

Looking ahead…the company will open 30 pop-up Christmas locations after all the scary innuendo costumes are packed up.—MM

There’s no bygone tragedy so bloody that the hospitality industry won’t turn into a ghost tour or other thematic experience led by someone holding up an umbrella.

While ghost tour lore draws on real-life historical events, the experience is infused with elements of the supernatural, creating a sense of enchantment with the spirit of the past.

Haunted hubs

The indisputable paranormal history capital is Salem, MA, which lives with the spectre of the eponymous witch trials of 1692. The episode is widely considered America’s first moral panic, during which 19 women and men were executed on charges of witchcraft.

Today, the most horrific thing about the quaint New England city is the traffic in October, as over a million tourists flock to its cobbled streets in the weeks leading up to Halloween. Salem’s $140 million-per-year tourism industry revolves around the Haunted Happenings Festival, involving ghost tours, spooky story time at historical sites, and haunted houses.

Salem is not alone when it comes to capitalizing on its dark past:

• About a two-hour drive away, the Lizzie Borden house in Fall River, MA, offers ghost tours based on the story of a young woman who lived there and was tried (but acquitted) on charges of murdering her father and stepmother in the 1890s—inspiring a dark local rhyme.
• London has several Jack the Ripper tours tracing the crimes of the unidentified serial killer who brutally murdered at least five women in 1888.
• Mob tours leveraging the most gruesome part of Chicago history (besides deep-dish pizza) proliferate, with some incorporating a paranormal element.
• Savannah brands itself as “America’s most haunted city,” and available themed experiences range from getting chauffeured around in a hearse to hearing about the ghastliest pages of its antebellum history on a candlelit walk.

What’s with all the ghosts? Adding a poltergeistic aspect to a city tour broadens the appeal of studying history by making it more entertaining, while the tongue-in-cheek attitude can make people more comfortable discussing death, according to UK-based anthropologists. But for some, phantom happenings are no laughing matter: A recent Gallup poll found that 39% of Americans believe in ghosts.—SK