Happy Halloween For Retailers

The pagan festival has been growing in popularity over the last decade, with British consumers now buying millions of pounds worth of Halloween-themed food, decorations, costumes and toys. Multiple retailers ranging from Sainsbury’s to Poundland increased their product selection considerably this year, partly due to the fact it fell on a Sunday, encouraging more adults to take part.

However, independent food stores also got involved, with the majority at least paying lip service to the event. Broadditch Farm Shop in Kent is renowned in the area for its annual Hauntfest event, which attracts thousands of customers every year with attractions including Terror Trailer Rides, Twilight Tours and Haunted Wood Tours.

Staff at the Hall Farm Shop in Colchester decorated the store weeks in advance, in anticipation of lucrative sales. “Celebrations like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are great for increasing footfall and Halloween in particular seems to be huge at the moment. We find that decorating the store with a theme in mind gives people an excuse to come in and look around,” said Will Barrie, manager.

Retailers also used Halloween as a tool to boost sales before the run-up to Christmas. “September, October and early November are transition months where people are thinking about Christmas but haven’t started doing their proper shopping. As a result, sales can be a bit slow at this time. Halloween is a great way of getting people in the shop that bit earlier,” said Hannabeth Johnson, owner of The Corner Deli in Porthleven. Over the weekend the store sold home-made pumpkin soup, themed cakes, baby pumpkins stuffed with cheese and decorated pizzas.