68°
CORTLANDT MANOR, N.Y. - A crawling economy has Cortlandt residents pinching their pennies, and shopping for Halloween costumes in their closets, instead of at Cortlandts Party Stop.
Its definitely slow, said owner Alan Ortner, but weve adapted our mix to deal with that. So instead of having a lot of high end costumes, we have a lot of low end accessories. I was just about to go back and restock the accessories for the second time today. This way, says Ortner, people spend $5 or $15 on accessories, instead of $30 on a full costume.
I didnt even decorate my house this year, I always decorate, said Karen Pressman, a Cortlandt resident, too much money, she added.
I cant see spending all that on a costume you only use once, said Carolyn Morello, a Mohegan Lake resident. Morello said rather than buy an entire costume, she bought cat ears and a bow to wear with things she already owned.
Costume aisles were nearly empty, despite a 50 percent discount on costumes, but people crowded accessory aisles in Party Stop, Friday night. In the past, we thought we were recession proof, said Ortner, whos owned the location for 28 years. He said because people still have parties at their homes during recessions, he had never felt a dramatic sales slump, until 2008.
Some people do continue to costume shop, however, and Courtney Contrevas can list a series of costumes that people always ask about. People like the red riding hood, she said. Superheroes, like Wonder woman and Cat woman, remain popular, as well as career costumes, like firefighters or police.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Cortlandt and receive free news updates.
