| Halloween
may be almost three months away, but that doesn’t stop Curtis
Sigretto and his Owenton-based company “Halloween Express”
from bringing out the ghosts and goblins right now.
“This is Halloween season, believe it or not,” Sigretto
said.
The seasonal company moved into its Florence location last week,
and franchise owners are expected to move into their respective
stores by Sept. 1.
“Everyone’s busy, packing up and getting ready to
move out for two months,” Sigretto said.
With 140 stores in 37 states, Halloween Express is the second-largest
seasonal retail store, according to Sigretto, and he expects those
numbers to grow within the next five years.
“We’ve been adding about 35-40 stores each year. Around
2000, we just started booming,” he said. “We stopped
selling ghost costumes and devil outfits and Halloween costumes
became fashionable.”
Sigretto started the company in 1989 in Asheville, N.C., with
three stores. By 1992, he’d sold his first franchise. He
moved to Owen County in 1995, and within six years, dozens of
locals had not only heard of the store, they wanted to own one
too.
“People are constantly calling, wanting to know more about
the company,” Sigretto said.
A Local Attraction, Investment
Sixteen Owen Countians have purchased Halloween Express franchises
during the past six years, moving their stores into 21 states.
“More and more Owen Countians are discovering this is a
good investment,” said Scott Cammack, owner of six stores
and 10 percent of the Halloween Express company.
Gross sales per location in new stores averaged $350,000 last
year, Sigretto said.
Cammack, who’s been in the business for the last three years,
started off with his parents-in-law, Mike and Marcella Howard,
but last year, separated and became more involved with the company.
“I was active at the end of the season and helped several
Owen Countians get involved,” Cammack said. Last year’s
franchises numbered 112, and the 2006 projections are 140 stores.
“We hope to have 200 by next year,” Cammack said.
Numerous Owen Countians leave during the months of August, September
and October to either manage stores themselves or work for a friend
who owns a store.
Cammack, who used to pack his wife and two children to Wichita,
Kan., during the Halloween season, said his managers — either
from Owen County or nearby, — will be in charge of the stores
this year.
“My wife will get to stay home and actually decorate our
house for Halloween,” he joked.
Cammack, a practicing attorney, said he enjoyed heading west for
a couple of months with his family, but was eventually spread
pretty thin.
“I’ll still head out and check on the stores, but
I’m looking forward to staying home this year,” he
said.
A Growing Market
The old days of using a white sheet as a ghost costume or a black
cape and hat to make a witch are over. Insert $900 authentic Darth
Vader costumes or a $90 Captain Jack Sparrow costume, adorned
with a hat, sword and a scraggly beard.
Halloween Express caters to all walks of life — children,
adults and pets — but Sigretto said mainly adult women come
into the store.
“Moms will take their kids to Wal-Mart and then come to
us for an outfit,” he said. “They spend about $150
for a costume and don’t care — they want to go out
for one night and look good.”
Halloween Express offers approximately 450 styles for women, in
contrast to 120 styles for girls.
“We have just about everything,” Sigretto said. “If
you can think of it, we probably have it.”
Each franchise carries about 7,000 products in merchandise, and
the online website, www.halloweenexpress.com (though still under
construction), carries roughly 10,000 products.
Cammack also noted that Halloween is a family-friendly event.
“It’s about fun, for everyone: the kids get to trick-or-treat,
adults go to parties, and everyone dresses up.”
Though bigger cities seem to be investing in the Halloween craze
more than areas like Owen County, Cammack said it’s becoming
popular. “The decorations don’t quite rival those
of Christmas, but it’s catching on,” he said.
Sigretto said he will dabble in the Christmas market this year
as well, opening around six stores with two in the Cincinnati
area.
“And we’ll just see where we end up,” he said.
The Year-long
Preparation
Halloween is now the second-highest grossing holiday, behind Christmas,
and just as Christmas carols start at the beginning of November,
Halloween now deserves a couple of months for its season.
Halloween preparations begin as early as March with the National
Halloween Show in Chicago where thousands of vendors set up shop
in the Rosemont Convention Center. During the three-day extravaganza,
Cammack said he, along with other franchise owners, look at Halloween
merchandise and familiarize themselves with the latest and hottest
products.
“We talk about the latest movies, what costumes we should
stock up extra on and what people will be looking for,”
Cammack said.
By June, the products are purchased, packaged and input into the
company system. Leases and store locations are usually finalized
by August, and owners and managers set up shop by early September.
Sales are steady during September (Sigretto says the best selection
for kids’ costumes is during this month) until Oct. 21.
“And then it’s crazy, absolutely crazy, every day
until Halloween,” Sigretto explained.
“Fifty percent of your sales come the last 10 days you’re
open,” Cammack said. “It’s nuts.”
And then, the season’s over. Time to pack up and head back
home until the next year, Cammack said.
Most franchises close Nov. 2.
The Youngest Franchisee
At 20 years old, Nick Miller of Owen County is the youngest Halloween
Express franchisee owner. He, along with his parents Jim and Cathy
Jansen, own three Halloween Express stores, all in Oklahoma.
The three started off with one store last year, and that was only
after Miller spent months convincing his parents they should open
a store.
After working with the company for two years — his senior
year of high school and his freshman year of college — Miller
noticed the number of customers the store received. “It
is such a big holiday, and never in my life would I have imagined
adults having as much fun with the holiday as kids do.”
Miller, who said he hasn’t put on a Halloween costume since
he was eight, put aside his skepticism and decided to capitalize
on a growing market.
“I thought to myself, ‘Hey, these people want this
stuff, and I can do this, I can sell it to them,’”
he said. He did some research, talked to Sigretto and he and his
parents signed the papers and headed west.
Miller, along with some friends from high school and college,
managed the store and were impressed with sales, so much so that
Miller opened two more stores in Oklahoma this year.
“He’s a pretty sharp guy,” Sigretto said of
Miller. “I remember when he gave the salutatorian address
a couple of years ago. He knows what he’s doing.”
Miller, a 2004 OCHS graduate, is an agricultural economics major
with a business minor at the University of Kentucky. He earns
college credit while managing and owning his own store.
“Even though I take a semester off to do it, I know I’ll
have a job as soon as I get out, and I’ll have that experience
to put on a resume,” he said.
Click
Here to Go Back to Front |
