Big business behind pop-ups
Trevor Nichols - Sep 15, 2017 - Biz Releases

Image: Facebook

Yesterday, a throng of people playing Disney dress up descended on downtown Kelowna.

They had donned costumes as part of a quirky work event, but, as prime dress up season draws closer, more and more people will start shopping for Halloween ensembles.

Many of them will turn to one of the costume stores that appear in Kelowna every year around this time.

But while chain stores selling pre-packaged Halloween costumes often seem to spring magically into existence overnight, they are actually the product of a well-thought-out business model.

Deb Lawless runs Halloween Alley in Kelowna, a costume store she has set up in the city each autumn for seven years.

Right now, she is in the process of bringing to life this year’s Halloween Alley location, at the former site of Winners on Gordon Drive.

Lawless says she expects the store to open Sept. 25, and until then she’ll be working full-tilt to get everything ready.

Halloween Alley is an Edmonton-based company that Lawless explains operates on through a “dealer-operated” system.

Each year, Lawless (along with her peers who run Halloween Alley locations across the country) signs a contract with the company, and runs her store similar to, but not the same as, a franchise.

She doesn’t buy any inventory herself. Instead, Halloween Alley sends her all the products she needs to stock her shop.

She starts by working with a leasing company to fund a suitable location, and once she has a spot finalized, just about everything is in her hands.

Deb Lawless
Image: Facebook

“From that moment on everything in the store–from payroll to hiring to managing to expenses during that season–all falls on me,” she explains. “I always say, ‘I hope I sell some stuff so I can pay for it all.’”

Instead of kicking some of her profits back to Halloween Alley, the company pays her a straight commission to run everything for that season.

It’s a lucrative time of year for Lawless, but she says she works non-stop for the short time she’s in business.

“Really when it comes down to it, the business is really a six-week business,” she says.

“I love the sense of urgency, but I won’t lie, it’s a lot of work to unload, build a grid wall, set up, and everything else that goes into running this place.”

Lawless says while she basically works straight through the Halloween season, she does well enough that she’s able to take part-time gigs and other less intense work during the rest of the year.

This allows her to spend more time with her kids and family, something she says she values greatly.

Lawless says she loves the work, and the company she works for, but jokes that one day she’ll have to “grow up and get a real job.”

Until she does “grow up,” a costume shop seems like a pretty good place to make a living.


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