This could be the last Halloween for Costumes Etc.
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This could be the last Halloween for Costumes Etc., the beloved Cheshire Bridge shop where countless Atlantans have donned wigs, fine-tuned Dragon Con costumes and bought the perfect Halloween eyepatch.
What’s happening: Jane Powell, the co-owner of the 17,000-square-foot emporium, tells Axios she and her brother Jimmy Gough are retiring after roughly three decades.
- If someone doesn’t step up to buy the business before the end of the year, they’ll close the doors on one of metro Atlanta’s last mom-and-pop costume shops on Dec. 10.
Catch up quick: Powell turned a longtime love of stitching and sewing into a costume job, and she and her sister started the shop in 1989. Its first space was a 600-square-foot store on Peachtree.
- After bouncing around Buckhead, the Powells moved to Faulkner Road. By then, it enjoyed a well-established following for Halloween shoppers, make-up artists, costume designers and production crews.
Of note: Ninja and Batman costumes are big hits every Halloween, Powell says, though the D.C. superhero is selling slower than usual this season.
- Masks of Michael Myers, the seemingly impossible-to-kill antagonist in the seemingly impossible-to-kill "Halloween" franchise, are already sold out for this year.
Zoom out: Online retailers and seasonal pop-ups like the Spirit Halloween empire have changed the industry.
- Aside from shops catering only to the entertainment industry and Eddie’s Trick Shop in Marietta and Stone Mountain, locally owned stores like Costumes Etc. are increasingly rare.