Economy Not Scaring Away Costume Connoisseurs

By Chris Howell, NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- It's been a bit frightening for the owners of Spotlight Magic and Costumes, 4946 E 21st St. - not just because of Halloween, but because of the economy.

"It kind of scared us a little bit earlier last month, because we have two internet web sites and they were down a little bit but we had a big surprising increase in the store, about 20-30%, which we were very pleased with," remarked Michael Platten, owner of Spotlight Magic and Costumes.

Now the costumes are coming down off the shelves and the phones won't stop ringing.

"They are going crazy, we've got costumes literally flying out of the store. I've even got them being shipped in," added Platten.

Michael Jackson, Shrek and the ever-so-frightening Burger King are big sellers.

"Another popular costume which was very surprising-- Jesus. Everybody of course needs Jesus, in more ways than one, but we literally have the costume, we can't keep them in stock," Platten said.

Seems like everyone is getting into to act.

"We lost a bet in the Tulsa Run, we had an inter-office competition," said Ryan Davis. "The winner gets to decided the losers' costume for the office party. My costume has been chosen to be a summer fairy costume. So I will be a fairy and my boss will be a French maid!"

And, although they're out of Sarah Palin masks at Spotlight Magic and Costumes, you can still find John McCain and Barack Obama masks.

"So far it's about an even race between the two of them," said Platten. So it's an interesting little analogy between using the masks versus what the elections - probably going to be close, too."

So this Halloween is turning into a big deal this year.

"It is a big deal, actually, I met my husband on Halloween two years ago. He was Elvis and I was a dirty cop," explained Whitney Rains.  "I get to be somebody else for the night, I can be a cherry-picker, I can be whatever, a dirty cop, a pirate, I love it! I get to play somebody else for a while."

Editor's Note:  You can contact Spotlight Magic and Costumes by calling (918) 712-8749.

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