Spend five minutes inside a Spirit Halloween store, and you'll understand the name.
Spooky season is alive and well down every aisle, behind every display, and in the shopping carts of customers looking to either be the most stylish (and spookiest) at their Halloween parties this year, or to put together a last-minute costume with the best Spirit Halloween has to offer.
The average experience includes aisles packed with accessories, face paint, beards, hats, glitter, and even sections where you can grab an entire outfit in a bag; everything you need to look your scariest, or cutest, depending on what you’re going for. Then there are the home and yard displays that both impress and surprise you, depending on how frightening they are.
If you need a made-ready costume, or just a pair of glasses and a wand (we see you, Harry Potter), the chain has you covered, be it September or Halloween morning. And don’t forget about their haunting home decor!
Over 1,000 stores dot the country, but they aren’t open year-round, and some states only have a few.
Let’s learn more about Spirit Halloween and where you can find these spooky pop-up shops all the way until Halloween night!
THE SPIRIT OF THE SEASON
Spirit Halloween opens seasonally, mostly in malls and strip centers across the U.S. Many open on or around September 23, just in time for fall, and shut down on October 31. After that, several locations reboot as Spirit Christmas, for all your decorative needs, and open on November 6.
The chain was first introduced in 1983 and has been spooking the season (and decking the halls) ever since. They even have an online store, open year-round for those who like to get a head start on costumes.
Shopping at your local Spirit Halloween not only helps you become the best dressed or have the spookiest decor in your neighborhood, but it also supports Spirit of Children: a program that partners with pediatric hospitals in your area to provide life-saving resources for hospitalized kids.
THE UNITED STATES OF SPIRIT HALLOWEEN
As mentioned, Spirit Halloween locations are only open for a few months before they close, become Spirit Christmas, and close again. There’s no guarantee a store that housed a Spirit Halloween last year will do so again this year. So, where can you find them in 2026?
Thanks to Haunted Attraction Network, we know which states are unearthing the spirit of Halloween, and which are keeping them in their graves each year. Every state has at least one Spirit Halloween, but some have hundreds.
California (142), Texas (106), Florida (93), New York (75), Pennsylvania (61), Ohio (55), Illinois (49), Arizona (45), Washington (42), and Colorado (34) have the most Spirit Halloweens. Meanwhile, West Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Montana all have fewer than 10 physical locations.
Each state has a city with more Spirit Halloween locations than others, but none have quite as many as Houston, San Antonio, and El Paso, Texas; Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Los Angeles, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Jacksonville, Florida; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Columbus, Ohio.
Basically, if you want to look your spookiest or bring your genius Halloween vision to life, these cities are Spirit Halloween hot spots.
Visit Spirit Halloween to locate your closest store. Happy costume and decor hunting, Spirit Halloweeners!