Halloween frights to become Christmas delights at Spirit Christmas

Every fall, Spirit Halloween stores pop up across the country, often in abandoned businesses or buildings, to sell costumes, accessories, lawn decorations and more.

The stores disappear as quickly as they appeared once the holiday is over — the temporary store sign banners stripped away and the store shelves empty once again.

But this year, 10 of the over 1,500 Spirit Halloween stores across the country will reopen as Spirit Christmas.

And one of them will be right here in Dartmouth at 65 Faunce Corner Mall Road. The nine other locations are in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.

Spirit Christmas will be a welcome addition to Dartmouth, Spirit Halloween shoppers said.

“This used to formally be a Christmas Tree Shop,” Ray Mello said, considering why the Dartmouth Spirit Halloween location was chosen to reopen as a Spirit Christmas.

Krystal Crowley, who said she plays Christmas music all year round, thinks Spirit Christmas will be successful.

“I’m excited to see where it’s going to go,” she said. “I think a lot of people will like it.”

Spirit Christmas will offer shoppers stocking stuffers, holiday apparel, gifts, decor and tree trimmings, according to the Spirit Halloween website.

“I thought it was going to be similar to this, where they’ll have costumes and everything, but I’m excited to see what there’ll be,” Mello said. “They’ll have cute trees I bet, decorations.”

Katrina Williams and her mom usually shop at Spirit Halloween every year, according to Williams.

Williams usually buys her mom Christmas or birthday presents from Spirit Halloween, but she said Spirit Christmas will open up new present opportunities.

“We’ll definitely go because we both love Halloween and Christmas,” she said. “They’re our two favorite holidays.”

And with the chance to visit Santa, Spirit Christmas will bring more holiday fun to kids.

“It’ll be nice for the kids too because I feel like there’s not much around here,” Crowley said.