Oxford Stock Shelves for Second Biggest Money-Making Holiday

Ole Miss just began the Fall session and had its first football game, and it is not even September. But Kroger, Walmart and other stores are stuffing their shelves for the nation’s second largest holiday sales bonanza — Halloween, on Oct. 31.
What’s the rush? Big, big bucks!
According to a South University (Savannah) report, Halloween is “not just for kids but has shifted to a celebration for adults looking for escape from the everyday life, and with this shift, the Halloween industry is booming,” the university reports.
Stephen Cobill with Wal-Mart in Oxford said Halloween is “pretty big for us. Our sales focus is on costumes, candy and make-up. I suspect the ratio of adults to kids is about 50/50 adults and children.”
Joe Pruitt has operated Joe’s Auto Detail Shop and a Costume Rental business for 25 years in Oxford. She says Halloween is huge with students who have a lot of Halloween costume parties.
“I close up the auto detail shop at the end of September and spend full time on costume rental in October,” Ms. Pruitt said.
According to the National Retail Federation, over 150 million Americans took part in some kind of Halloween celebration in 2010. The average American spent $66.28 cents on costumes, candy and decorations, and one in five visits a haunted house, all part of an ever growing trend. Temporary Halloween stores — like New Year’s and July 4th fireworks stores and tents, are on the rise. Retailers across the business spectrum, including nightclubs, bars and restaurants, are expanding their marketing to get on the Halloween bandwagon.
Second only to Christmas, the money involved is huge and expanding rapidly. Halloween sales grew by $1 billion in one year, 2010-2011, to $6.85 billion, according to South University. Oxford and Ole Miss are among many American communities that celebrate the season with costumes, candy, haunted houses, and trick or treating by kids, all of which make cash registers ring loudly well before Christmas as shelves are stuffed even before football season.
Here are some more Halloween images from Oxford retailers’ well-stocked shelves of Kroger.






Jim Roberts is a HottyToddy.com contributor.