Spirit Halloween Takes Over Vacant Storefronts in Northeast Ohio

Nothing rings in the spooky season quite like Spirit Halloween popping up on seemingly every corner, orange vinyl signage unfurling over front doors.

The Halloween costume and decor chain has more than 1,450 shops up and running for the 2022 season. Most of those shops open in early August and close in early November.

What’s scarier than a Halloween store filled with frights? Perhaps the idea that, for roughly nine months out of the year, many of those 1,450 storefronts sit empty: gaping husks of once-bustling department stores, restaurants and chains of years past.

This year, more than 50 of Spirit’s stores landed in Ohio, with more than a dozen of them clustered in Greater Cleveland and Akron.

The pop-up businesses find extraordinary demand every fall in the U.S. According to the National Retail Federation, this year’s Halloween spending is expected to reach a record level of $10.6 billion, beating 2021’s record of $10.1 billion. Those dollars are spent on skeletons, cauldrons, inflatable lawn figurines and, of course, costumes.

“At Spirit Halloween, we work year-round to develop must-have looks, and 2022 is shaping up to be an incredible year,” says Steven Silverstein, CEO of Spirit Halloween, in a news release. “It's clear that Halloween has grown bigger than one single day, and our goal is to help our guests embrace every aspect of the Halloween lifestyle as they celebrate the season and beyond.”

Here’s your friendly reminder that shopping local is an option for Halloween. Starship Earth (16880 Lorain Ave., Cleveland) showcases various costumes, including detailed masks, and some home decor in its storefront. Chelsea’s Costumes & Vintage Clothing (1412 W. 116th St., Cleveland) fills a variety of costuming needs, revived from years past. Mr. Fun’s Costumes & Magic Emporium (4130 State Road, Cuyahoga Falls) has sold and rented a variety of costumes, Halloween or not, out of Cuyahoga Falls since 1968. Look no further than Lakewood’s Cleveland Curiosities (13375 Madison Ave.) or Oktober’s (12611 Madison Ave.) for spooky decor, too.

Spirit doesn’t try to hide its business practices — far from it. The chain refers to many of its store locations on its website by their buildings’ former occupants, tagging its Northeast Ohio shops with “Former Best Buy,” “Former Sears” and “Former Toys ‘R’ Us," for example.

Here’s a look at where Spirit Halloween appears in Northeast Ohio this season, along with a look at some of the buildings’ former occupants: