As the owners of Taney’s Costume Shop prepare for their first Halloween season, they strive to give new life to old fabric.
With consumer spending on Halloween expected to reach a record $13.5 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual consumer survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, business partners Allison Engle, Spencer Shotto and Ashley Nole — who purchased the century-old store in February — hope to cash in on the steady demand for unique, personalized costumes.
“We spent the majority of our first six months kind of parsing through everything,” Shotto said. “We’re digitizing 100 years’ worth of stuff for the first time. We found a bunch more costumes from the original owner (Pierce L. Taney), and some older heads and stuff. It’s been like opening a treasure chest. It stops you completely in your tracks. The biggest thing, as people always say, is the nostalgia of people walking in here. We’re hoping to feed into that by reoffering some of the older, really cool stuff in a different way.”
Nearly 75% of consumers plan to celebrate Halloween this year, topping the 73% last year, NRF officials said. Additionally, more than 60% of consumers plan to hand out candy, 50% plan to dress up in a costume, and 42% plan to decorate their home or yard, carve pumpkins, or watch scary movies.
Halloween themed candy and merchandise at Michael Mootz Candies in Hanover Twp. on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Halloween themed candy and merchandise at Michael Mootz Candies in Hanover Twp. on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
An assortment of Halloween themed candy at Michael Mootz Candies in Hanover Twp. on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Meagan Mootz, co-owner of Michael Mootz Candies, stands with Halloween themed candy at Michael Mootz in Hanover Twp. on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
An assortment of Halloween themed candy at Michael Mootz Candies in Hanover Twp. on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Meagan Mootz, co-owner of Michael Mootz, stands with Halloween themed candy at Michael Mootz in Hanover Twp. on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
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Halloween themed candy and merchandise at Michael Mootz Candies in Hanover Twp. on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Candy remains the most popular purchase, with 96% of consumers planning to buy sweets, accounting for $4.1 billion in spending, NRF officials added. The federation noted 78% of shoppers plan to buy decorations, for a total of $4.3 billion, and 71% of consumers intend to spend $4.4 billion on costumes.
While nearly 40% of shoppers are expected to purchase Halloween items at discount stores, followed by 32% at specialty Halloween/costume stores, and 27% online, locally owned outlets should see a boost, with 13% of shoppers planning to make holiday purchases at small businesses — up from 7% in 2016, according to the NRF.
Shotto believes the wide variety of apparel and attention to detail at Taney’s sets the business on North Washington Avenue in Scranton apart from the chain brands.
“We’re working with a different selection than what you’re seeing year-after-year at Spirit Halloween, Walmart, Target and Amazon,” he said. “What we’re offering is a bit more unique, as it always has been. We’re always pushing our huge rental selection, which we’re really starting to see expand with Halloween coming. It’s cheaper for you to rent a shirt, cape and pants, and have us make an outfit for you, than the stuff on the shelves. That’s why we pride ourselves on our rental selection. We can really make customers happy and provide things beyond the bag.
“It’s tough for us to compete on the open market in the retail world. It’s better for us to invest the money in nicer rental pieces and high-end wigs, masks and makeup to provide both a better selection and a more unique selection.”
As the Halloween shopping season ramps up, Taney’s may offer special promotions to clear out older inventory and make room for new products.
“During the month of October, we’re hoping to market things as kind of a big Taney’s 100-year yard sale vintage item event,” Shotto said. “Before we can determine what we need, we need to figure out what we have. We haven’t ordered a ton of new stuff. We’re making the old new again, all with an eye toward the future and what we’d like to provide.”
Although the first eager customers began booking costumes for Halloween in February, the owners have started to see an uptick of foot traffic and phone calls leading into October, Shotto added.
The National Retail Federation found classic Halloween costumes like witches, vampires, ghosts and superheroes remain popular. However, Nole stressed vintage items are skyrocketing in popularity and customers have diverse requests.
Masks hang on the wall of Taney’s Costume Shop in Scranton Thursday, October 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Masks hang on the wall of Taney’s Costume Shop in Scranton Thursday, October 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Items are for sale at Taney’s Costume Shop in Scranton Thursday, October 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Taney’s Costume Shop owners Spencer Shotto, Ashley Nole, and Allison Engle stand in their business in Scranton Thursday, October 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Masks hang on the wall of Taney’s Costume Shop in Scranton Thursday, October 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Masks hang on the wall of Taney’s Costume Shop in Scranton Thursday, October 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
“I don’t think I get a call about the same costume twice,” she said. “People have very specific ideas of what they want to be, and it’s varied. That is what’s different with us — we’re able to go find that costume and fit it to the person.”
Meagan Mootz, co-owner of Michael Mootz Candies on the Sans Souci Parkway in Hanover Twp., sees Halloween sales grow annually.
“I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I’ve seen it grow into a really big holiday where we’re making a lot of chocolate pops,” she said. “It seems like our store gets taken over a little bit more every year by Halloween decorations, plates and mugs, and gift items to sell to the customers.”
Mootz noted employees started making pumpkin pops about a month ago in preparation for the holiday rush and recently ramped up production of another favorite.
“The chocolate pops are most popular and right behind that is our goody bags with two chocolate-covered pretzels, a nonpareil, a Halloween milk chocolate foil and a chocolate pop,” she said. “We made 60 caramel chocolate apples (Monday) morning, and we’ll be making a lot of those. They’re really popular not only for the fall, but for Halloween as well.”
In addition to boosting the bottom line, the Halloween buzz also boosts the spirits of workers around the shop.
“We get very excited about Halloween,” Mootz said. “One year we all dressed up as a piece of candy. It’s just a fun atmosphere of selling skull pops and all the Halloween items. If you’re here, chances are you love the holidays. It’s exciting because it’s busy in the store and we thrive off that business.”
Jerry Longo, owner of Jerry’s for All Seasons on Jessup Avenue in Dunmore, continually notices more demand for fall and Halloween accessories.
“It’s pretty big and it’s been getting bigger these last five to six years for fall decorating and Halloween decorating as a whole,” he said. “Halloween decor is big and then obviously carving pumpkins and specialty pumpkins. We sell 10,000-plus mums followed by pumpkins, and then the straw and corn stalks. We (also) sell inside decor, but really the outdoor stuff is important for us.”
Nearly half of consumers say they planned to begin shopping for Halloween in September or earlier, on par with last year, according to the NRF. The percentage of consumers shopping before October has grown over the past decade, rising from 34% in 2016 and highlighting how Halloween has stretched from a single-day event into a season for consumers, NRF officials added.
Longo also noticed the retail window for Halloween keeps expanding as customers seek spooky and fall-related goods earlier in the season.
“I think people are really embracing fall as more of a season compared to just a transition between summer and Christmas,” he said. “We see people really eager to decorate for fall whereas 10-plus years ago it was more so, ‘Let me get a mum, let me get a pumpkin, and let me just get through until Christmas.’ It’s a great kickoff. Christmas seems to be getting earlier and earlier for everybody and fall follows suit. It’s a really nice boost throughout the late summer to early autumn months. Once the leaves start to change, people really get excited.”
Longo credits the popularity of social media trends like pumpkin scaping and fall scaping for bringing many new customers into the store.
“They’re using a lot of pumpkins in their landscape, and pumpkin stacking has become very popular the last couple years,” he said. “We start getting busy right around Labor Day and it will carry throughout the end of October.”