Spirit Halloween, known for bringing a temporary thrill to retail spaces with its spooky stores, is now venturing into uncharted festive territory. This year, Spirit Halloween will not close its doors after October 31st. Instead, some of its stores will transform into Spirit Christmas—pop-up holiday shops that promise to bring the same magical energy to the Christmas season. Spirit Christmas stores will be filled with holiday decorations, inflatables, gifts, and apparel. Alongside the wide range of festive products, visitors will get to experience seasonal attractions like life-sized gingerbread villages and the chance to meet Santa Claus, making it a go-to destination for holiday shopping and family fun.

What’s Behind the Move to Christmas?

Spirit Halloween has built its reputation as the go-to seasonal retailer for all things Halloween, opening over 1,525 stores in the US and Canada in 2024 alone. The company, owned by Spencer Gifts, uses short-term leases on vacant retail spaces, giving it a flexible and cost-effective approach to seasonal retail. These stores are typically open for around eight weeks before Halloween and close soon after the holiday, capitalizing on the intense but short-lived consumer demand for spooky decorations and costumes. However, with the winter holidays being an even bigger retail opportunity, it makes sense for the company to extend its operations. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), Americans spent nearly $964 billion during the 2023 holiday season—a record figure. In contrast, Halloween spending for 2024 is expected to reach $11.6 billion. With Christmas shopping making up a massive chunk of the retail industry’s yearly revenue, Spirit Halloween's decision to step into the holiday market is strategic.

Spirit Christmas: A New Holiday Experience

Locations and Opening Dates

Why Spirit Christmas Could Succeed

Spirit Halloween’s Response to SNL and Public Attention

Spirit Halloween’s foray into the Christmas season comes at a time when the brand has been enjoying heightened visibility in popular culture. Recently, Saturday Night Live (SNL) aired a parody of Spirit Halloween’s pop-up business model, playfully mocking the chain’s fleeting nature. Spirit Halloween took the joke in stride, responding on X (formerly Twitter) with a cheeky post tagging SNL and humorously referring to the show as an "irrelevant 50-year-old TV show." This playful interaction highlights the brand’s self-awareness and ability to engage with its audience in a light-hearted, relatable way. This kind of public engagement only increases the brand's visibility, helping Spirit Halloween maintain its quirky and fun image, which is now spilling over into Spirit Christmas.

The Future of Spirit Christmas

It’s still early days for Spirit Christmas, but if the model proves successful, we could see more of these holiday-themed pop-up stores in the future. With Christmas retail being a huge part of the US economy, there’s plenty of room for Spirit Christmas to grow and expand beyond its initial ten stores. As Spirit Halloween broadens its seasonal reach, one thing is clear: the brand is no longer just synonymous with Halloween. By tapping into the holiday spirit with its new venture, Spirit Christmas is poised to become a new holiday tradition for families across the Northeast.