The original Barneys department store is turning into a Spirit Halloween
By Alexis Benveniste, CNN Business
The original Barneys department store in New York City is going to be a ghost town — literally. The retail space, which was home to the luxury department store for almost a century, is transforming into a Spirit Halloween store.
Spirit Halloween stores pop up around the country every year ahead of the fall holiday. For the most part, they inhabit the corpses of out-of-business stores. But this opening feels particularly spooky.
Barneys opened in 1923 and was an icon of America’s luxury clothing world for decades. But the department store filed for bankruptcy in 2019 and officially shut its doors in 2020. In 2020 alone, Lord & Taylor went out of business, Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy.
Every year, Spirit Halloween, which calls itself the “No. 1 Halloween costume store,” takes over vacant retail spaces across the US for the few months leading up to Halloween, selling costumes and decorations. Spirit Halloween has more than 1,400 stores across the United States, making it the “the largest Halloween retailer in North America,” according to the company’s website. Spirit Halloween has not yet responded to CNN Business’ request for comment.
Spirit Halloween stores are seasonal pop-ups, so after October, 101 7th Avenue will just be the ghost of Barneys past.
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