NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. Halloween store manager Leonard Rauch has seen a lot more women purchase store-bought costumes while men and kids have bought more accessories for do-it-yourself costumes throughout this years Halloween shopping season.
People are coming in slowly to buy accessories, said Rauch.
The employee has also seen an influx in store traffic, and expects to really start seeing an increase in mens and kid's accessories with the popular holiday quickly approaching. It looks like were going to get hit hard like yesterday, he said recently.
New Rochelle resident Hector Cabrera usually makes a do-it yourself costume until this year when he decided to go for a store bought camouflage jacket. Cabrera has driven by the establishment multiple times with an urge to step inside over the past few years. Somebody told me to come here, he said of a recent suggestion from a friend.
There were 41 million potential trick-or-treaters ages 5 to 14 in the United States last year, according to a 2010 report by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2009, there were 1,719 costume and clothing rental establishments across the nation, according to the same report.
A 2007 Gallup Panel survey found that Americans spent an average of $52 on Halloween merchandise, spread about equally among costumes, decorations and candy. The total household expenditure jumped to $82 for households with children under age 18, with a bit more emphasis on costumes.
But with the scarier than a Halloween slasher-flick prospect of a double-dip global recession haunting the homes and wallets of millions of Americans this October, its easy to imagine more families spending less money on dressing up and choosing a homemade version instead.
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