Local retailers predict popular Halloween costumes this year
| Wednesday, Sep 23 2009 05:24 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Sep 23 2009 05:28 PM
The Halloween shopping season has officially begun, and costume shops are offering their predictions of what this year's hot sellers will be.
The king of pop's untimely demise will make Michael Jackson a popular choice among adults, most stores agree.
MJ's sudden death in June didn't give costume makers time to get Michael Jackson rubber masks into catalogues, and there's been legal bickering over licensing rights. But manufacturers are still scrambling to ship wigs, sequined gloves and the like to retailers, said Jennifer Keller of Fantasy Frocks Costumes in downtown Bakersfield.
The pop icon meshes nicely with ongoing interest in the 1980s, Keller said.
"There have been a lot of '80s parties going on year-round," she said.
Movie tie-ins have always driven sales of children's costumes, and this year is no different, said Derek Flores, manager of Party City.
"I can already see G.I. Joe, Transformers and Bumblebee are going to be big," he said.
Adult women by and large will want anything revealing, Flores said, going for "sexy witch," "sexy nurse" and so on.
Spirit Halloween opens seasonal costume shops in Bakersfield and other cities around the country each fall.
"Consumer inspiration comes from everywhere. Overwhelmingly we are influenced by everything from movies to TV, from music to the latest scandal," said Spirit Halloween President Steven Silverstein.
Besides Jackson, other celebrities likely to draw interest are singers Britney Spears and Lady Gaga, as well as reality star Kate Gosselin, the store said.
Vampires, a perennial favorite, have been given a boost by Twilight and True Blood, and jailed financier Bernie Madoff and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin are top picks from the headlines.
Don't look for too many Obamas or much else out of Washington, D.C., though, Keller said.
"Political costumes tend to do better in presidential election years," she said.
