Spirit Halloween Unleashed Its First Bay Area Store in 1983

Spirit Halloween, one of spooky season’s favorite internet memes, is now 40 years old — and its origins are in the Bay Area.

The chain, which has over 1,500 pop-ups nationwide and has been known for quickly snagging up empty storefronts, is the brainchild of Joe Marver. In 1983, he opened a Halloween store at the Castro Valley Mall. At the time, he did business in party goods and women’s apparel, and when a dancewear store selling costumes at the mall closed, he saw an opportunity.

“I put all of my clothing in storage. I went to a trade show in Chicago, picked up everything I could that had to do with Halloween, and put it in my store, and it was amazing,” the 80-year-old said.

Why Halloween, in particular? According to the National Retail Federation, U.S. Halloween spending is projected to reach a record $12.2 billion in 2023, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. The trade association predicts the holiday will surpass the previous record, $10.6 billion, in 2022. (According to career guidance site Zippia, Spirit Halloween’s annual revenue is approximately $1.1 billion.)

Whether Marver has a special affinity for Halloween, a 2016 Bloomberg article described it as not a “strong love.” KQED asked him again about this impression.

“I had to be somewhat into it to start it,” he said.

Marver’s gamble worked out, and the concept took off, opening more stores in the West and Midwest. In 1999, he decided to sell the store to the company Spencer’s Gifts, also a Halloween specialty retail chain headquartered in New Jersey, which continues to run Spirit Halloween.

“Spirit brings tremendous expertise to the non-mall seasonal Halloween retail business. Their approach to operating seasonal stores outside of the mall environment will contribute to our continuing strong hold on this holiday market,” said John Hacala, Spencer’s Gifts CEO at the time, in the press release announcing the acquisition.

 Marver said he stayed involved in the business, primarily as a consultant, and left it around a decade ago. He currently runs a boutique hotel, Twisp River Suites, in Twisp, Washington.

He looked back on the store’s founding and shared insight on running a seasonal business, speaking with KQED’s Brian Watt.

This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Brian Watt: Why did you decide to sell? It sounds like it was going well.

Joe Marver: I approached [Spencer’s Gifts] with a deal that I thought was quite fair and generous for me in 1998. And they talked about it and said, “No, I don’t think so.” And I went back home, and I continued and increased the number of stores, and I got up to a great number. I put friends and family in the business with franchises, and it just worked very well. A year later, in ’99, they approached me and said, “We’ll do your deal.” And I said, OK.

Even the most enthusiastic Halloween celebrations would wonder how someone builds a business around something that is only for one season of the year. What do you think about that?

It seems like a temporary, seasonal business, but it’s not. You have to buy all the merchandise. That starts February, March and get everything ready to be shipped. [Then], let’s talk about finding the locations. That usually starts in May or June. [And] taking a location, beginning of August, in order to prepare the location, decorate the location, set up all of the goods, and then, you need two weeks after Halloween to break it all down, get everything set up [and] leave the location.

I tried to do Christmas stores at one point, but it was way too competitive. Gas stations did Christmas. Everybody did Christmas. So I gave that up.

Just living Halloween things for 10 months strikes me as a lot.

Yeah, I think they’re doing a lot of online selling — they’ll do it all year round for costumes, makeup, masks, parties [and] events. And so, they’re keeping busy.

When I was working for another radio station in Los Angeles, and we were coming up on Halloween, we noticed these stores. I talked to one guy who was a manager of one of these stores. I want to know if what he told me at that time was true about the empty stores in strip malls. Did they become a hot commodity in the run-up to Halloween? Do you compete for the right to set up a store around Halloween?

Well, back in the day when you’re talking about, it was kind of difficult to get the right location. Some of the people in the strip centers wanted to have the big boxes come in, but then, some of them realized it [was] not going to happen. “Let’s do Halloween. Let’s get something going. Maybe it’ll bring business to the other tenants.” And I think that’s what it’s about.

There are plenty of jokes and memes about the store — like the social media posts of people posing as Spirit Halloween costumes. What do you make of all that, in light of what you started 40 years ago?

I just feel honored, to be honest with you. I’m so proud of what I started, and I’m so proud of the people who involved themselves and became so successful with the company. It’s like a tribute to me, to everybody who loves Halloween.

How do you celebrate Halloween now?

I just basically decorate my hotel, and I get 200 to 300 kids who come by and trick-or-treat. And it just brings back the memories.