It’s that time of year again when everyone is frantically looking for the coolest costume, best makeup, scariest mask, and best prices. There are several stores in Bakersfield that offer a place to start your search.
There are, of course, the big-name shops like Spirit Halloween. Denisha Lopez, assistant manager of Spirit Halloween located on White Lane and Stine Road, said, “We cater to more of the Halloween stuff and have a bigger selection.”
Lopez explained that if customers are unable to find their size in something, employees are willing to call other stores or order that costume off the website, which is also available for shopping.
Spirit’s website has a wider selection of costumes seen in the store, along with some that are not available in the store at all.
Lopez said that one thing that sets them apart is that they carry a lot of licensed costumes such as Disney, Monster High, Marvel, and other “licensed horror.”
Although there are usually some discounts when the store first comes to town, Lopez explained that customers shouldn’t expect to find any price breaks after that.
“Considering we are only open for a certain amount of time, we don’t take off too much because places like Party City and Fantasy Frock’s are open year-round,” she said.
Lopez explained that they do have a Spirit brand that is less expensive but things might be more pricey at Spirit because they do carry more licensed costumes and possibly because they are connected with Spencer’s.
Lopez said that, thus far, the best-sellers seem to be all things super hero and licensed horror.
Although Spirit has a wide selection of costumes online and in-store, Lopez said that for people looking for something unique, in the case of Two-Face as an example, she recommends buying a suit, altering it yourself, and buying the latex, makeup, and other accessories available at Spirit.
Some people, however, prefer the personalized experience that can be offered by small businesses. Fantasy Frock’s Costumes etc. and Bakersfield Costumes and Workwear are two of Bakersfield’s privately owned shops. Both of these shops are open year-round, sometimes by appointment, and hours increase during the peak season of Halloween.
Jennifer Keller, owner of Fantasy Frock’s Costumes etc. located at 1928 17th St., described big-name stores as “pop-ups,” which means that they only come to Bakersfield to operate for about a month during the peak season.
Keller said that one big reason that people like to buy from privately owned stores is that it is not only supporting small business, but also giving back to your own community because the money that they pay in taxes contributes to the city.
One thing that might set Fantasy Frock’s apart from other privately owned stores and even big-name stores is that they are the only store in Bakersfield associated with the National Costumer Association, so they carry a lot of costumes that are from vendors that other stores don’t carry, according to Keller.
Keller also explained that many people come to the store throughout the entire year because they are the only store in Bakersfield that carries Ben Nye makeup, a Hollywood quality makeup that’s used for movies, although it is more popular during Halloween.
“It’s a phenomenal product; we’ve dealt it for years,” Keller said describing the makeup.
Fantasy Frock’s offers a wide array of masks, adult costumes, hats, and other accessories. Although their children’s costumes inventory seemed smaller, they did have packages for kids’ costumes as well as kits that could transform to be for adults or children.
Keller explained that she feels the funny costumes are pretty popular this year and she likes them personally. She has a newcomer this year that she “had to have,” so if Rasta Banana sounds like your cup of tea, then Fantasy Frock’s is definitely your go-to.
Keller said that other popular costumes this year seem to be Duck Dynasty, which seems to have taken over the ’80s fad when it comes to weekend party themes according to her, and Day of the Dead stuff.
Keller noticed that sales seem to have drastically plummeted on political masks in comparison to previous years. “We’ve sold one political mask, and the lady was going to put it in her yard on a scarecrow,” Keller said.
Fantasy Frock’s customers can look forward to finding any costume desires, from slightly sexy to extremely funny, and lots of in-between.
One costume shop that sets itself apart from others is Bakersfield Costumes and Workwear, located at 323 Roberts Lane. The shop carries many different things, some new, some used.
Sonja Talamantes, owner of Bakersfield Costumes, said, “A lot of the time people just wear the costume once and then they don’t want to be it again, so people don’t mind buying used.”
Although Talamantes does have some packaged costumes, a lot of the inventory is catering to people who try to get a more creative and authentic costume without breaking the bank.
Bakersfield Costumes also offers a service where you can bring in costumes, and she will take money off your purchase. Talamantes explained that she doesn’t like to see parents sacrifice getting themselves a costume so that their child can dress up, so she can usually find costumes for the entire family at affordable prices.
“I rely a lot on word of mouth,” Talamantes said. “Instead of spending a lot of money advertising, I give the customer a really good deal so they’ll just spread the word and tell everybody about it.”
Talamantes expressed that customer experience is very important to her and she even is willing to work with customers to find the perfect costume. “Ninety-five percent of the people usually find what they want,” she said.
“I used to think that the appeal would just be good, awesome-priced costumes and then it kind of turned into people coming in and getting something unique, being able to find hard-to-find costumes,” Talamantes said.
She explained that she recently sold a woman an Indian costume that they made more authentic by accessorizing with leather boots and a leather purse for $25.
Something customers will notice is missing in Bakersfield Costumes are price tags. Although some newer costumes have prices listed, there are not any prices marked for available merchandise. Talamantes said it can be considered kind of like a “thrift shop” in that sense.
“Really people just come in here and they know they’re going to get a good deal, so they’re not too worried about pricing,” she said. She explained that she felt it necessary to cut customers a deal because she doesn’t want customers to feel like they have to worry about prices so much that they have to come up to the register and ask how much something is, because she might be busy in some instances.
Bakersfield Costumes and Fantasy Frock’s both offer a rental service for costumes, which cannot be found in a “big-box store” like Spirit, as Keller put it.
Talamantes explained that she really likes to focus on Halloween costumes and things like that because people don’t want to spend a lot of money on things they only wear once.
Talamantes said, “It’s about having fun, not spending a bunch of money.”