What Spirit Halloween Opening in Your Neighborhood Means for Property Values

The arrival of fall also means the arrival, in many places, of a Spirit Halloween store. 

The pop-up retailer that specializes in costumes, decorations, and party supplies for spooky season is almost ubiquitous during September and October, with over 1,500 seasonal locations in shopping centers and strip malls across North America. The brand’s ability to set up shop quickly and then disappear in November is the stuff of legend. 

But the temporary nature of a Spirit—and the way they tend to inhabit big, empty storefronts—can leave people with mixed feeling.

Some might look at Spirit taking over a former Party City as the work of an involved landlord, seeking to keep foot traffic up until another long-term lease is signed. Others might worry that a Spirit is a last-ditch effort to squeeze a few bucks out of a dying area. And either direction could be a sign of things to come for the broader market and your home directly.

There’s no definitive answer to that uncertainty here. Experts say it comes down to the broader context of the area, rather than just the Spirit itself. 

How did Spirit Halloween get here?

Spirit Halloween has been offering its pop-up retail experience since 1983. The heart of its strategy lies in finding large, vacant commercial spaces, and convincing the landlords to agree to short-term leases. An empty Party City or Bed, Bath, and Beyond is a prime opportunity for Spirit to move in, even temporarily. 

“We like to locate our stores in power centers, strip centers, free-standing stores, major downtown retail locations and in major malls surrounded by a national retailer mix,” says the Spirit Halloween website.

It also notes they look for communities with a population of approximately 35,000-plus, living within a 3-5 mile radius, and a car count of at least 25,000 cars per day. 

So while Spirit’s physical footprint only lasts a few months, the effort to locate the right places to set up shop is a year-round endeavor. Don’t let the gaudy costumes and masks fool you: this is a savvy operation. 

“Spirit is an opportunistic real estate player,” says Todd Drowlette, the managing director of TITAN Commercial Realty Group in Albany, NY.

“They target busy, regional locations with high traffic counts and traffic generators in the center or retail corridor like Target, Walmart, or grocery stores. Landlords will do deals with them, because they are short term deals and Spirit typically takes the locations ‘as is’ so it is basically some cash flow for the property owner while the vacant space is being marketed.”

In short, a Spirit Halloween is often a win-win-win—for the business itself, for the landlord of the building they inhabit, and for shoppers looking for an accessible way to find costumes ahead of trick-or-treating. 

Do they target areas in ascent or decline?

Just because Spirit’s model is savvy doesn’t mean it’s not kind of funny.

A Bed, Bath, and Beyond in a space may have once signaled something like adulthood and maturity—while a Spirit Halloween is kitschy and silly. And to top it off, the store literally “haunts” an abandoned retail space. You can forgive people for thinking that a Spirit arriving isn’t necessarily a sign of economic strength. 

“I think Spirit is the visible indicator that consumers see and think ‘retail apocalypse’ and can be the butt of jokes,” says Stephanie D’Amico, VP at CrossMarc Services, a commercial real estate advisory in Winter Park, FL. But those who understand commercial retail know that an empty storefront with a temporary tenant is just part of the business. 

“Having a vacancy is not a harbinger of the death of retail. Retail is just evolving,” she says. “It could end up being filled long-term by a new grocery concept, a new online retailer looking for brick and mortar like a Wayfair, or just another relocation of a similar tenant in the market.”

D’Amico also argues that a shopping center that invites a Spirit is better than one that leaves the space empty. 

“Halloween is a huge industry, so a Spirit or similar type use is a great way to bring in shopping center traffic,” she says. 

Where a Spirit could be seen as a sign of decline is when you see it pop up in the same place more than once—like deja vu. 

“If Spirit rents the same vacancy two years in a row, that is a serious red flag for that shopping center and market potentially,” says Drowlette. “Most spaces rented by Spirit are leased by the time the following Halloween season comes back around.”

If that same space is still empty by spring, it’s fair to worry about that location’s long-term viability. 

And sometimes it’s the absence of a Spirit that should bother locals, says Drowlette. If you have multiple shopping centers with several larger vacancies where a Spirit could live, that could be the sign of a domino effect of business failure. Better to see four Spirit Halloween’s in one high-density city—even if it feels like overkill—than four empty storefronts. 

Is there an impact on nearby property values?

So what does it mean if a Spirit Halloween, or even more than one, moves into your neighborhood? On its face, not much.

“A Spirit Halloween store near you does not have any direct impact on your home's property values,” says Drowlette. “Spirit Halloween themselves never cause a market decline. They don't hurt markets, the markets are in trouble if they have too many vacant boxes to choose from in any given season.”

Like any other business, especially one that has been around for over 40 years, Spirit has standards. The brand will pass on a location if the traffic, income, and demographic don't meet their minimum requirements, says D’Amico. So maybe a little haunting of your nearby vacant commercial space is a good thing. 

Not only that, but Spirit is likely to expand its offerings: Spirit Christmas, which the company has run intermittently over the company’s lifespan, returned in 2024, and expanded to 30 locations in 2025.