In Defense of 'Crappy' Halloween Pop-Ups: The Post's Manifesto

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Now we know of at least one person who's really, really jazzed about all the Halloween pop-ups taking over the city: In an article that begins with the sentence, "Retail snobs love to deride the temporary Halloween shops that have sprung up across the five boroughs this fall," the New York Post proclaims its deep affection for those seasonal purveyors of sexy Solo cup costumes. This should be interesting.

Their argument? "Pop-up stores solve a host of problems for both sides of the retail equation as the all-important fourth-quarter selling season unfolds," writes Catherine Curan. "They put cash in landlords' pockets for space that would otherwise sit vacant. They allow seasonal merchants to rack up revenues during a highly targeted selling period." Plus, she says, the short-term leases give retailers exposure without having to commit to a permanent storefront.

Oh, and those "retail snobs"? Miraculously, Racked was not included among them—instead, Curan calls out Erik Torkells, the blogger behind Tribeca Citizen, who reported that "one of those crappy Spirit Halloween pop-ups is coming to the old J&R."

In response, Torkells posted this comment to his blog yesterday:

"I do wish the writer had asked for further comment, because I would have said this: Are pop-ups good for landlords? They're better than nothing. Are they good for anyone else? Probably not for the people who make them, and not for the earth, since they'll be landfill after a few hours' wearing. The best costumes—such as the year two friends and I went as the female lifeguards of Baywatch—don't come in a bag; they come from your imagination."

Whatever your opinion of "crappy" Halloween stores may be, they're at least doing one good thing: Providing us with endless fodder for ridiculous costume roundups.

· Halloween Pop-Ups a Win-Win for City [NY Post]
· What These Ricky's Costumes Should Actually Be Called [Racked NY]
· It Came From Ricky's [Racked NY]