Halloween shopping in July? Stores are rolling out decorations earlier than ever
Summer was only a few days old in June when the At Home store in far north Fort Worth was already a spooky Halloween wonderland.
We’re not talking a few pumpkins and fall wreaths. There were 10-foot skeletons with light-up eyes. Massive skulls and towering Grim Reapers. And hundreds, if not thousands, of jack-o-lanterns in all sizes and colors, a zoo of skeleton animals (even octopus), cutesy yard signs, gigantic inflatables and enough grave stones to fill a cemetery.
Who on earth was shopping for Halloween before the Fourth of July? Turns out, a lot of people are embracing “Summerween,” from shoppers at Bath & Body Works to Michaels. Fort Worth-based Martin House Brewing Company held a Summerween celebration in June.
An executive for At Home, which is based in Coppell, said the furniture and decor retailer rolled out Halloween “earlier and bigger” than ever before because more customers want to start decorating well in advance of October. Jamie Jo Cockrell, a senior vice president, said Halloween “is not just a season; it’s a lifestyle.”
That’s a trend that the National Retail Federation says is being driven by Gen Z and Millennials. Shoppers who are 25 to 34 are more likely than any other age group to prepare for Halloween earlier, and they spend more ($124.43 per person on average).
Ten years ago, fewer than one-third of shoppers starting buying for Halloween before October. Last year, nearly half of all shoppers started early, according to a National Retail Federation survey. The primary reason motivating shoppers was that they were looking forward to fall.
That’s understandable in North Texas, where many of us are already tired of the heat.
Analysts say they started seeing more people go all-out for Halloween during the COVID pandemic, which resulted in record growth in holiday spending. Five years later, that hasn’t stopped.
From 2019 to 2024, total spending on spooky decorations increased by a whopping 42%, the NRF said. And clearly, retailers aren’t wanting to miss out.
What do you think? Are you already thinking about fall and loading up on Halloween decorations? Or do you prefer to wait until the weather starts changing?
This story was originally published July 11, 2025 at 12:55 PM.
