October is green for businesses

By Joshua Bacon

Green may not be a color that comes to mind when thinking of Halloween, but it is a welcoming sight for businesses specializing in Halloween sales.

Money is the splash of green that gets added to the traditional colors of black and orange that represents Halloween—from candy to costumes, there are a variety of products people buy to celebrate the spooky holiday.

In fact, Halloween has become the number one adult celebrated holiday, marketing and e-business department professor Bill Rice said.

“The amount of expenditures and dollars dropped is so significant that it’s really unbelievable,” Rice said.

Because there’s a lot of money to be made in the Halloween business and because large department stores don’t have the space to hold Halloween items all year, Halloween superstores have been popping up around the country, Rice said.

Spirit Halloween Superstores, which has more than 250 locations in 31 states—three of the locations are in the Fresno/Clovis area alone—sells a variety of Halloween items including costumes, masks, makeup and a number of accessories.

But what makes Halloween such a popular holiday to spend money on?

“Since it is a very short-lived thing, only for a month, there’s a lot of money being spent on costumes and other kinds of stuff,” Rice said.

Satterstrom’s Tree Farm, in Reedley, is one example of a business that offers some of the other “stuff” during the Halloween season.

Mike Satterstrom, the owner of the Tree Farm, describes his Halloween attractions as a varied venue.

During the day, a younger crowd visits the pumpkin patch and takes trips on the hayride. At night, what Satterstrom calls the “haunted side,” an older crowd takes trips through the haunted house, haunted forest and haunted hayride.

The most popular attractions are the haunted events, Satterstrom said.

“People get scared, laugh, and get scared a little more. It’s just fun,” Satterstrom said.

Besides Halloween, Satterstrom’s sells Christmas trees and has a facility for weddings and receptions.

Satterstrom said, for his business, Halloween is bigger than Christmas in terms of profits and customers. Satterstrom’s offers more attractions during Halloween than at Christmas.

Satterstrom also said Halloween profits depend on how well the weather cooperates. A rainy season could keep customers away from outside venues.

He said Halloween is popular because people are just looking for something to do between summer and Christmas.

“As a leisure event, Halloween is colorful, fun and interesting,” Satterstrom said.