Locations were identified on Spirit’s website by the retailer that used to be there before it fell on hard times and disappeared, like “former Sears,” “former Beals” and “former Pier 1.” Last year, it took over the original Barney’s in midtown Manhattan, filling the once glamorous department store frequented by the city’s socialites with polyester witch costumes, jack-o-lanterns and fog machines. He found he could take advantage of empty storefronts vacated by other retailers, which landlords were all too happy to fill, even if just for a few months. He inherited tiny Spirit Halloween, which he quickly set about growing. He staffed the front desk at his grandparents’ Daytona Beach motel on school holidays. “Spencer’s appealed to my funny bone,” said Silverstein, who grew up in a well-to-do household in Miami, where his dad was a cardiologist and his mom worked for an ad agency. A retail executive with priors at Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, he had just been fired as president of Linens N’ Things, where he had been for over a decade, and needed a job. The company traded hands several more times in the coming years and in 2003, Silverstein was brought on as CEO. In 1999, he agreed to sell to the owner of Spencer Gifts, which had 700 mall-based stores. The get-ups sold so fast that he decided to expand, ultimately opening 60 temporary Halloween locations across the Southwest. The seasonal retailer got its start in 1983, when a shop owner in California decided to swap his normal inventory of women’s clothing for Halloween costumes. Its parent company, which also owns retail chain Spencer Gifts, known for selling lava lamps, Nirvana tees and fart machines, raked in revenue of $1.7 billion last year, up from $1.1 billion the year before, according to Moody’s. Spirit Halloween is the biggest chain devoted to the holiday. What's so amusing about a bloody butcher knife? Spirit Halloween
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