Americans are planning to shell out more cash for Halloween parties than last year, retail experts said. It’s almost like it’s 2001 again!
According to the National Retail Federation, almost 70 percent of Americans plan to celebrate the holiday, up from about 64 percent last year. It’s the highest percentage in a decade, said BIGresearch, the research team in Columbus, Ohio, that performed the consumer survey.
Folks will shell out an average of $72 this year for decorations, costumes and candy, up from about $66 last year. Total Halloween spending should top $6.86 billion, compared to the $5.8 billion in 2010, the NRF says.
Why is this happening? Because even when the economy is bad, feel-good holidays like this typically do very well. Halloween makes people happy — so they’ll spend money on it.
One of the true beauties about Halloween is that there are rarely markdowns on big-ticket items. This is because most costumes don’t get old. If they don’t sell the witch’s hats this year, they’ll put them in storage and sell them next year.
Halloween does not have a shelf life. It’s also not a holiday shoppers can wait until the last minute to prepare for. If shoppers don’t buy early, they won’t get what they want.
Source: Post Gazzette, September 2011
