Following the phenomenon of what usually occurs after a long-lasting store dies out—the Ludlow’s Jo-Ann Fabrics location has now joined the long list of Spirit Halloween stores.

Since our last article on the closed-down business, Jo-Ann Fabrics: Closing from Bankruptcy, Spirit Halloween has bought the property and renovated to fit its usual interior with its iconic company banner on the front of the building. Most LHS students by now have most likely visited the location as the days toward Halloween continue to count down.

Is the store worth even visiting? 

We’ve come to the conclusion whether they’re worth sticking around into the next year or not:

Costumes- 6.5/10

Arianna Podmore: 6/10

I thoroughly enjoy my yearly visit to Spirit Halloween to see what they have to offer, from inflatable dinosaurs, princesses, or a pop culture phenomenon from the past year, they have many options. Along with their bagged costumes they have other items to add to one of their costumes, or to add to one you are DIYing. There is something for anyone to enjoy in the store, which is nice, but the quality of most of the costumes isn’t the best. Personally, I prefer thrifted or DIYed costumes as I find them to be more comfortable and overall fit what I am going for better. 

William Nogueira: 7/10

Despite being forever angry about missing the era of 2000s Spirit Halloween costumes, I would actually say that most of the ones available at the store were pretty good! The location has pretty much any type of theme you could think of. Prior to this trip, I had bought a prisoner outfit with additional accessories in a separate aisle that held makeup, decorative leggings and other cosmetics to add to your costume.

However…there’s obviously a couple bad apples in the bunch, like how some “costumes” were `literally just rave outfits. I don’t mean themed costumes that appeal towards Halloween parties—I mean one of the costumes was straight up a black tube dress alone. You could technically make your own costume with the dress as a base, but what would you even make with it, just buy a cheaper one at another store if you really have to!

Decor & Animatronics – 8.5/10

Arianna Podmore : 9/10

My family has never bought any of the animatronic decorations from Spirit Halloween, but we all love to test them all out. For the past few years it has been a tradition for my family to take a trip to the store and check everything out, my favorite being the animatronics. While they are pretty pricey and gaudy, hence why we’ve never bought one, they are fun to walk through and get a pre-Halloween scare to get you into the spirit. 

The store also offers a lot of other household decorations—the skeleton animals always give us a laugh. As I walk through the aisles though, I tend to wish that they had some more. There seems to be so much empty space because the store itself is so big. If everything was a little more packed together, and everywhere you looked was something fun and haunted, I think the spooky vibes would flourish.

William Nogueira : 8/10

While the animatronics are clearly meant to be one of the major focuses of the store’s interior, it surprisingly didn’t make the building feel too cluttered while shopping. I don’t think I’ve actually ever met anyone that has bought a decor piece from Spirit Halloween, though if they’re still selling them, there’s clearly an audience for it.

Prices – 4/10

Arianna Podmore : 4/10

Personally, I have never bought a full costume from Spirit Halloween, partly because the price for what you are getting is not the best. Some of the costumes feel incomplete, and when you are paying around anywhere from $30 to $75 for a costume, you’d hope it would satisfy what is needed. The quality of the costumes are also not the best; my little sister mentioned that a Cinderella costume looked “sloppy.” I think that if you’re looking last minute, or for inspiration it is a good place to go, but if you want something that’ll satisfy you I advise a DIY costume. The pieces for the decorations aren’t much better, but what can we expect in a world where everything is crazily overpriced.

William Nogueira : 4/10

The prices in my opinion are very hit-or-miss. Some costumes would have reasonable prices, while others that seem cheaply made would be as high as $70 (sometimes even higher!). It doesn’t help that, as mentioned previously, that some costumes feel somewhat incomplete to where you might feel inclined to buy an accessory in the separate section that has different types of cosmetics. Though, I believe that’s the intent of almost all stores that want to make the most profits.

Overall, we believe that the location is somewhat worth visiting if you’re desperate for a last minute costume. It certainly fairs as more of a hangout spot to mess around with friends after school than anything else it’s meant to be.