Halloween Retail

Here's an assessment of local retail stores' Halloween displays:

Giant Eagle (grocery store)- This year's display is more sparse compared to last year. It's mainly a bunch of candy, a few decorations, and a few seasonal ales. Disappointing.

Meijer- A pretty good collection of costumes, candy, and decorations. Fun to peruse.

Home Goods- Very disappointing this year. Only a small collection of stuff and situated at the back of the store.

Michaels- Excellent collection this year. Lots of costumes, decorations, and crafts. My favorite holiday store.

Party City- A surprising amount of Halloween stuff out already, with more to come. Not my style, as much of it is gory and macabre, but a lot of Halloween to look at.

JoAnn's- A slightly below average showing, with much more generic Fall/Autumn & Thanksgiving stuff out this year.

Lowe's & Home Depot- Each year, these stores feature less and less Halloween. At Lowe's, there was already more Christmas stuff out compared to Halloween.

Tuesday Morning- Very disappointing. Hardly anything this year.

Final Tally:  6 Below Average showings, 3 Above Average Showings

Halloween is the second biggest retail holiday in America. And while the stock market is at a record high, I've read several articles lately pointing to the fact that while the top 1-5% of America is enjoying significant financial gains, the other 95-99% of America continues to reside in recession territory. Could this be why this year's Halloween showing is a bit weak?

Another Tuesday Morning & Home Goods

Baby Holidays and I drove over to a bigger Tuesday Morning across town. The Halloween section was disappointing, but the Christmas section was spectacular.  We'll come back again to take a bunch of pics before the '3 months till Christmas' post on September 25.  I will say that Baby Holidays lit up when he saw the Christmas goodies.  Looks like we may have a Christmas lover on our hands.

Afterward, we revisited our local Home Goods store and I was excited to see that they had put a few, new things out.  Here are some pics:

Jo-Ann's & Party City

Baby Holidays and I dropped by these two stores today. Jo-Ann's had a little bit of Halloween stuff out, while Party City was preparing shelves for its initial shipment. Might drop by Home Goods again tomorrow to see if their main display is up yet.

Home Goods

While Mrs. Holidays got her hair cut yesterday, Baby Holidays and I visited a local Home Goods store. There were already a couple of Halloween aisles.  Really looking forward to their full display in the coming weeks. This store always has a magical feel during the holidays. Here are some pics I took:

3 months till Halloween decorations hit the stores

In my experience over the last three years, Michaels usually puts its collection out first, followed by Home Goods. I'm going to check out the local Goodwill store as well.

This year, I'm going to keep my eye out for black spray paint, more battery-operated tea lights, a knick knack or two that I could hang from the artificial trees, orange string lights (Mother in Law Holidays, do we have any orange lights, I can't remember?), and maybe even a little wreath.

And, of course, I'll have to take Grandmother Holidays out to look around for a spooky door sign.

Image Source

Operation Save Easter

Yesterday, I stopped by Home Goods for a quick visit and noticed that the store had already taken away about 90% of its Easter stash and replaced it with generic Spring products.  How disappointing, especially considering that we still have about two-and-a-half weeks until the big holiday.  Also, in my evening walks, I haven't seen a single outdoor Easter decoration in my neighborhood yet.

Easter (in the fun, holiday sense) is on life support. Fellow Easter bloggers and enthusiasts, it's up to us to save it.

Home Goods surgical strike

Yesterday, Grandmother Holidays and I visited a couple of stores in search of Easter decorations. First, we visited Home Goods, which had a treasure trove of Easter goodies. I bought a beautiful egg wreath (pictured) that I will incorporate in our outdoor display. Grandmother Holidays spotted a pink, glittery Easter door sign but couldn't quite pull the trigger. I told her that we could always come back after visiting Michaels.

We then drove over to Michaels, but there was nothing new. A few weeks ago, I had spotted a potential door sign for her but held off so that she could decide for herself. This time, with her present, I pointed her to the various signs, and without any prompting at all, she was drawn to the same sign. After closely analyzing it, she asked what I thought. I asked her if she preferred this one or the Home Goods sign. After further contemplation, she decided on the Home Goods sign, so we drove back and bought it. I will take a picture when she hangs it on her door after Valentine's Day.

All in all, we had a fun time together, and I could sense that her anticipation is growing for the Easter holiday.