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Retailer Goes Big in Halloween Costumes

A Shop 'n Save supermarket south of Pittsburgh has dedicated 4,000 square feet to a Halloween costume shop to distinguish it from competitors and capitalize on a popular holiday. If Wal-Mart can sell everything under the sun, then I think we need to look and see if we can be as good as they are in some areas, said Tom Jamieson, owner and president of Jamieson Family Foods,

Uniontown, Pa. — A Shop 'n Save supermarket south of Pittsburgh has dedicated 4,000 square feet to a Halloween costume shop to distinguish it from competitors and capitalize on a popular holiday.

“If Wal-Mart can sell everything under the sun, then I think we need to look and see if we can be as good as they are in some areas,” said Tom Jamieson, owner and president of Jamieson Family Foods, based here, which operates 13 conventional Shop 'n Save supermarkets and 10 Sav-A-Lot value-oriented, limited-assortment grocery stores.

Besides the in-store Halloween Adventure Costume Superstore, Jamieson also is running two 8,000-square-foot freestanding Halloween stores, as well as one franchised Pet Supplies Plus store that grew out of operating large pet departments in his supermarkets. In one Pittsburgh location, he has combined a Shop 'n Save with a Save-A-Lot.

When the Halloween costume business dries up at the end of the month, Jamieson plans to convert the in-store shop into a party goods area, which he already has in other stores, and ultimately expand that into freestanding locations. The two freestanding Halloween stores are on short-term leases and will close, as is common with such seasonal businesses.

The Halloween shop is in an unused spot adjacent to the supermarket in the shopping center that Jamieson also owns, which includes the Shop 'n Save, a Save-A-Lot and the Pet Supplies Plus store. It has an entrance from the outside, and opens to the supermarket.

At the front of the store, it is located near the Halloween candy, which leads customers from the entrance to the specialty shop. It stocks a variety of Halloween goods, but most sales are costumes, which range from $29.99 to $149.99, Jamieson said.

“We are priced below the other Halloween shops in the area,” he said.

Credit cards have helped enable the sales of these products, which are relatively high-ticket for a supermarket. “Credit cards will probably be close to 60% of the Halloween store sales.”

While he would not disclose dollar volume, Jamieson said “the response has been very positive.”

The sales are on a 45% commission from the supplier, Halloween Adventure, Philadelphia. With all unsold products going back at the end of the season, there will be no cleanup period when Jamieson closes the shops during the first week of November. “All we have to do is pack it up, inventory it and send it back,” he said.

SCARING UP SALES

A heavy promotion and cross-promotional barrage began last week. This includes tie-ins with the supermarket's advertising, 10%-off coupons called Boo Bucks given to customers, and radio ads funded with co-op from the supplier, Jamieson said. Dollars spent in the Halloween shop count toward the retailer's Pump Perks promotion, where customers accumulate 10 cents in fuel discounts at Sunoco stations for every $50 spent at Shop 'n Save.

The Halloween shop also is cross-promoting with local haunted houses, he said. The haunted houses will be promoted in Jamieson's stores, and the back of haunted house tickets will feature the 10%-off Boo Bucks, he said.

“We are tied into just about everything in this area that we can tie into,” he said.

Jamieson is looking forward to the more permanent party goods section, which he has already enjoyed success with. Products include balloons, ribbons, plates, napkins — “everything that goes along with throwing a party,” he said.

He also expects to launch freestanding party goods stores soon. “We've been testing it in supermarkets for a couple of years, and now we are ready to start doing it on our own outside the supermarket environment,” he said.

“It's even simpler than running a supermarket,” he noted. “Retail is retail as far as I'm concerned.”

In some counties, there may be no pet store or party store.

“Those are opportunities that we can explore. We can be that pet store; we can be that party store. It's basically just an extension of groceries,” he said.

For this year, “I'm looking for real good results from the Halloween shops, and that will lead us next year to determine how to get back into it. We have bought some territory rights, and next year I expect to put them into a couple of other supermarkets,” he said.

“We are looking to diversify the party stores, and within a year you will see us have about four [freestanding] party stores also,” Jamieson said.

Jamieson's principal grocery and nonfood supplier is Supervalu, Eden Prairie, Minn.