New Lansing location is ready for the holiday—and looking to hire employees they can retain year round
by Jennifer Yos
LANSING, Ill. (September 20, 2019) – Every September Halloween stores pop up in strip malls throughout the country, reminding us that the popular October 31st holiday—Halloween—is soon approaching. Halloween retail spending in the U.S. last year was estimated to have reached $9 billion, according to a Prosper Insights & Analytics survey commissioned by the National Retail Federation.
Who are the people who run these seasonal businesses, and what do they do for the rest of the year? Halloween Land—advertised as a costume superstore—recently opened in The Landings in Lansing. General manager Zaki Said was happy to share his knowledge about the challenges of operating a successful seasonal business and about how this particular family-owned and -operated business came to be.
The family business
Said’s uncle, Jose Medina, and Jose’s son Mike Medina (Said’s cousin), began their private, family-owned Halloween business 10 years ago as a complementary business to Jose’s already well-established toy business, which he started 25 years ago. The Medina family own and operate B Toy Zone stores—located in the Chicagoland Midway area—and Zippy Toys in Fox Valley Mall.
They envisioned opening a Halloween store to fill the gap immediately following the toy business’s slow season and just before the heavy Christmas season. This gap occurs in the month of October, so they created Halloween Land.
Today they operate three Halloween Land stores. One is located at 7601 S. Cicero Avenue, and another is at 4632 W. Diversey Avenue—both in Chicago—and now a third is the new Lansing location, 16839 Torrence Avenue. The Lansing location is new this year, but Halloween Land has operated in various locations in and around Lansing for the last five years.
The seasonal time constraints
Said shared some of what he has learned in his five years’ experience as General Manager of his family’s seasonal business. “It takes a lot of preparation. People think seasonal business is really easy to get into, but it’s the complete opposite. There’s a lot of time and effort that goes into it. Specifically, you’re trying to get all this stuff ready just for one month, so the things that we do—like sourcing the product, talking to different venders—obviously you want to get the best deal for your money—scouting locations, and then the biggest and hardest thing, in my opinion, is training new employees because [whereas] the toy store employees we basically have all year round, Halloween [employees are] quite different. We prepare from June just to get ready for October. So the training is more intense because you have to cram a lot of information in a short period of time to get ready, hopefully, for a big season.”
Training intensive; inventory extensive
Halloween Land employees are extensively trained, and therefore, Said explains, they try to retain their employees, even relocating them to some of their other store locations. They are currently hiring at the Lansing location.
Their Halloween inventory is extensive. They have aisles of costumes, special effects makeup, and accessories, including hats, weapons, and, according to Said, perhaps one of the largest mask collections in the Chicagoland area. They also display and sell Halloween home and lawn decorations.
Not only do they house over 30,000 pre-made costumes, but they also offer to customize costumes to fit your concept and your budget. If a customer wants something that is not offered in a pre-made costume, Halloween Land employees will artfully combine costume pieces, accessories, and makeup to create the desired character.
Where does the unsold inventory go after Halloween? Most of the decorations and everything in the store will be discounted the first week of November. After the season, about 40% of inventory goes into storage and about 60% goes toward Halloween Land’s online store, where they sell costumes year round.
Media influences on costume popularity
Location and hours
Halloween Land is located at 16839 Torrence Avenue, in the Landings Shopping Center. September hours are 10:00am–8:00pm Monday through Saturday, and 11:00am–7:00pm on Sunday. In October, hours will be 10:00am–midnight. Said encourages everyone to visit their website, myhalloweenland.com, not only to see what is available in the stores, but also to get coupons and discounts, to e-mail special inquiries, or to apply for jobs.
