Spirit Halloween's owner to test 10 Spirit Christmas pop-ups, including 1 on Long Island

The owner of the largest Halloween retailer in the country is getting into the Christmas spirit.

Spencer Gifts LLC, the parent company of the Spirit Halloween chain of pop-up shops selling costumes and decorations, will test 10 Spirit Christmas temporary stores it is opening this year in five Northeast states, including a store in Sayville Plaza in Bohemia.

“Spirit Christmas is a new concept for us, and we’re hopeful it will resonate with our customers. Our goal is to create a festive retail experience that captures the spirit of the season, much like we do for Halloween,” said Nikki Balles, spokeswoman for Spirit Halloween.

Spirit Christmas shops will sell holiday décor, clothes, inflatables, gifts and stocking stuffers, Balles said. Also, St. Nicholas will make appearances.

“Guests can meet Santa for their annual Christmas card photo and receive a free digital postcard featuring you and Santa. Wander through the life-sized gingerbread village, where you can mail your letter to Santa at the North Pole and find out whether you’ve been naughty or nice,” said Balles, who added that Santa visits can be booked at SpiritChristmas.com.

The first Spirit Christmas shop opened in Mays Landing, New Jersey, on Oct. 18 and the other nine will open in early November, she said.

Some of the 10 Spirit Christmas pop-ups will open in spaces that will be transformed from Spirit Halloween shops, as will be the case with the Bohemia store, which is located at 5181 Sunrise Hwy.

The Spirit Halloween in Bohemia occupies 39,000 square feet, said Robert Delavale, vice president and director of leasing at Breslin Realty Development Corp., the Garden City-based real estate firm that owns part of Sayville Plaza through an affiliate.

Balles did not respond to a Newsday inquiry about whether there are plans to expand Spirit Christmas to more locations next year or why Spencer Gifts decided to dip its toes into Christmas retail competition.

But with the popularity of Spirit Halloween stores, the Christmas retail foray makes sense, said David Caputo, a data scientist at Moody’s CRE, which is a commercial real estate data provider in Manhattan.

Spirit Halloween attracts significant foot traffic to shopping centers, which appeals to landlords during a quiet retail period before the holiday shopping season, he said.

“This success has led to the logical extension of Spirit Halloween into Spirit Christmas,” Caputo said.

Founded in 1983, Spirit Halloween opened a record-high number of pop-up shops in the U.S. and Canada this year — 1,525, including 15 on Long Island. The Egg Harbor, New Jersey-based chain also opened a record number of shops last year, more than 1,500, up from 1,450 in 2022.

Spirit Halloween’s expansion has been helped by retail landlords’ changed perceptions on short-term leases, which used to be viewed as unappealing because of their instability and potential to block long-term tenants, Caputo said.

But increased brand recognition of pop-up chains has made them more palatable to landlords, he said.

Also, Spirit Halloween has addressed landlords’ concerns about losing out on long-term tenants, he said.

“Spirit now includes kick-out clauses in their contracts, providing landlords with extra protection. These clauses allow landlords to terminate the agreement if they secure a long-term tenant by June,” Caputo said.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.