Tricks Not Treats for Spirit Halloween Workers

• Spirit Halloween’s pop-up model heavily relies on short-term seasonal hires, with a hiring spike beginning in April each year and building up to the Halloween season.

• Temporary roles at Spirit Halloween offer limited opportunities for skill development and career growth. The average employee tenure is much shorter than that of competitors.

• Low pay and long hours contribute to low employee sentiment, as noted in employee reviews, and lead to low retention, with approximately 88% of former employees not returning for another season.

Starting in September, you may start to notice pop-up Halloween costume stores like Spirit Halloween, with their iconic banners and minimal in-store setups, appearing across your city. As soon as Halloween ends, these stores vanish into thin air—perfectly capturing the spooky Halloween spirit. Spirit Halloween, the nation's largest Halloween retailer, is expected to have opened over 1,500 pop-up locations in strip centers and malls and hired 50,000 seasonal sales associates and store managers in 2024. This week, we take a closer look at Spirit Halloween's hiring trends for this Halloween season.

Spirit Halloween’s hiring process is closely tied to the Halloween season. The company typically begins recruiting seasonal employees several months in advance to prepare for the holiday rush. This year, the hiring season started a bit earlier, with job openings appearing as early as April. Nonetheless, the volume of postings remains comparable to last year. By August, dedicated merchandising teams are hard at work, transforming empty retail spaces into the recognizable Spirit Halloween stores that pop up across cities, ensuring they are fully stocked and ready to welcome eager customers. Seasonal employees join shortly after, undergoing onboarding and training just in time for the spooky festivities.

The decline of strip malls and retail spaces has actually been a boon for Spirit Halloween. The company seizes the opportunity to occupy these abandoned locations, temporarily breathing life into otherwise vacant buildings just in time for the spookiest season of the year. The leases typically last six to eight weeks. By mid-November at the latest, the stores vanish as quickly as they appeared—taking with them the seasonal jobs that kept the Halloween magic alive. Compared to competitors’ store employees, including those at Party City, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Target, and Walmart, Spirit Halloween’s have a much shorter tenure, as their roles are strictly tied to the brief operation of these pop-up stores.

But is the workplace as magical as the Halloween spirit the company creates? Not quite. Only 11.8% of seasonal employees return for another season. The rest move on without a second thought, never looking back once the spooky season ends.

As for why many employees never return, the reasons are clear in their reviews. Most of the negative sentiment revolves around long hours and low pay. While employees at Spirit Halloween understand the seasonal nature of the job, they still express frustration with the uncertainty and instability that come with temporary positions. Many workers face the challenge of securing long-term employment after the season ends. Studies show that temporary jobs often do not serve as a stepping stone to regular employment and can even diminish future earnings and job stability. The skills gained in temporary jobs are often limited in scope, focusing primarily on short-term tasks such as customer service or inventory management, which may not significantly enhance someone’s skillset. As a result, these roles rarely contribute to career advancement or provide transferable skills that can help secure more stable, long-term positions. Despite the festive atmosphere, these drawbacks often outweigh the positives, leading many to seek more stable opportunities elsewhere.

Where is the Halloween spirit strongest this season? Compared to the overall share of job openings in the U.S., California and New York stand out, as they are overrepresented in Spirit Halloween's hiring. The rise of remote work has left many retail spaces in city centers vacant, providing an opportunity for Spirit Halloween to secure favorable short-term rental leases. This trend has led to a surge in seasonal job opportunities, particularly in states with larger urban centers, where temporary retail spaces can be easily repurposed for the Halloween season. As these urban hubs adapt to the changing economic landscape, Spirit Halloween is capitalizing on the availability of prime locations, driving increased demand for seasonal staff in these areas.

Happy Halloween!