Halloween is days away; Kmart’s Halloween selection has been turned over to Christmas, and ordering from overseas now involves more faith in delivery estimates than the average shopper can muster. For Heaven Costumes, the Australian retailer operating since 2007, this is when business gets busy. 

Indiya Wordingham, its second-in-charge, says a large portion of Halloween sales now arrives in the few days before October 31, after larger chains have sold through their ranges or started clearing seasonal stock. Heaven keeps its full range available until Halloween, although the business behind those last-minute rescues is preparing to close its Adelaide shop and move entirely online.

When it opened in 2007, Heaven Costumes was just one of a handful of Australian retailers that specialised in costumes. Since then, bigger retailers have moved into the market. Asked about Amazon, Temu and Kmart, Wordingham described the pressure from both international marketplaces and national chains with formidable buying power.

Wordingham said Heaven’s Halloween sales are on par with last year, though they remain below the retailer’s strongest seasons in 2021 and 2022. Australian Retail Council and Roy Morgan research puts expected Halloween spending at $510 million this year, just a 2 per cent increase from last year, with participation falling by 400,000 to 4.4 million people. Back in 2022, five million Australians planned to take part in Halloween festivities. 

According to Wordingham, those reopening years brought customers eager to dress up and socialise after pandemic restrictions, but that enthusiasm seems to have dropped off.

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