AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Just like those inflatable jack-o'-lanterns, Spirit Halloween stores have popped up across the country. There are about 1,400 locations each year selling fake blood, fog machines and lots of costumes. Well, two Princeton University student journalists took a closer look at their local shop last year.
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ISABEL JACOBSON: At the Quaker Bridge Mall in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, the parking lot is full. But people aren't going to the main entrance.
ADAM SANDERS: They're headed for the pop-up shop at one end of the parking lot, with posters of little girls dressed like killer clowns, boys dressed up as inflatable expletives and vivacious young women wearing nurse costumes.
JACOBSON: We're talking about Spirit Halloween. Every day here is October 31.
CHANG: Isabel Jacobson and Adam Sanders hosted this podcast. It was a finalist in NPR's College Podcast Contest. And we figured Halloween is a perfect time to share a bit of their story.
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JACOBSON: The animatronic decorations for sale stretch out skeletal hands with conspicuous price tags.
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JACOBSON: It's undead, unreal - a world that only exists until November 3.
DEBBIE: Want to know how long it takes me to take down this store?
SANDERS: How long?
DEBBIE: Three days.
SANDERS: Three days.
That's Debbie (ph), one of the higher-ups at this Spirit Halloween. She's got long, pink-dyed hair, thick glasses and wears a T-shirt that in the top left corner says, Spirit Halloween 2021. She's a veteran.
DEBBIE: My husband spends way too much money on Spirit Halloween. And...
SANDERS: Really?
DEBBIE: ...The only reason I put in the application was for the 30% discount, to be honest.
JACOBSON: Now Debbie runs multiple Spirit Halloweens across central New Jersey. She deals with costume shipments from Spencer's Corporate, who owns the chain, as well as setting up elaborate decorations and hiring teams of Halloween fanatics. For Debbie, it's a great gig.
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JACOBSON: The store is basically one big haunted house, with the caveat that they're trying to sell you a polyester "Minions" costume and some plastic skulls along the way. Anthony (ph), a cashier, told us this experiential aspect of the store was a big part of his attraction to working there.
ANTHONY: People come in, they're screaming, they're yelling, they're laughing, they're scared. They're having a good time. They're watching their friends get scared, their children get scared. I think for the most part, we just want it to be an experience.
JACOBSON: Spirit Halloween is a silly place. Nothing you buy here is going to last.
SANDERS: Not even the stores last. They're open for only a few months at a time before returning to their hibernation. You can make the argument that with all of the fun of the decorations or the giddiness of picking out a costume, Spirit Halloween is, in the end, a store in a mall that sells you plastic.
JACOBSON: But what surprised us about spending an afternoon at the Spirit Halloween in Lawrence Township was how deeply anti-materialist it felt to speak to the employees, who come back to the store season after season to sell costumes and candy and decorations. On Halloween, they said, you celebrate expression, choosing your own identity, reveling in the shocking or the transgressive or the fun. You make a statement about who you are.
UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE #1: It's the only holiday that you don't have to give anybody anything.
SANDERS: (Laughter).
UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE #1: It's all about you if you want it to be. You know what I mean?
UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE #2: So it's always fun, you know. I mean, it's still a job, but it's fun and it's - I can't complain.
JACOBSON: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE #1: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE #2: Probably one of the better jobs I ever had.
JACOBSON: This has been Izzy (ph) Jacobson.
SANDERS: And Adam Sanders.
UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE #2: Have a wonderful evening, and once again, thank you for choosing Spirit Halloween for all of your Halloween needs.
CHANG: And we should note, as this is a student podcast, it does something we generally do not do here at NPR. It identifies people by first name only.
(SOUNDBITE OF DANNY ELFMAN SONG, "THIS IS HALLOWEEN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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