For Spirit Halloween, a pop-up lease is ideal, because then they're only paying for space when they truly need it.

Guess what's finally open?

The Spirit Store.

Happy day, happy day.

And with consumers expected to spend a record amount for the holiday, Spirit Halloween has opened more stores than ever this year.

So how does Spirit Halloween capitalize on abandoned spaces in local markets?

And how does it manage to transform those vacant storefronts so quickly?

This is the economics of Spirit Halloween.

The first Spirit Halloween popped up in 1983 in Castro Valley, California.

It was an extension of founder Joe Marver's women's clothing store.

Traditionally, October is a very slow month for retail in general.

And there was a Halloween store in the strip center that he operated, and he saw that there were lines coming out, so he said, that might be a good idea.

So with that, he turned his boutique into a Halloween store, and kind of the rest is history.

In 1999, Marver sold the company to Spencer Gifts, that mall store known for gag gifts.

And it's built a reputation among those who love Halloween.

So much so that more than 2,000 fans showed up to the July grand opening of the flagship store in New Jersey.

But the retailer is hoping last-minute shoppers come through the door, too.

One of the advantages is that they're everywhere.

So if someone has forgotten about Halloween and needs to get a last-minute costume and can't wait for it to be delivered after it was bought online, then they can just pop into a Spirit Halloween.

While shoppers can buy Halloween fare on the company's website at any time, none of its physical locations operate year-round.

Spirit Halloween prefers a temporary lease because it is not a year-round business.

So for them, they want to save as much money as possible on real estate, and so it makes much more sense for them to take space temporarily.

Spirit Halloween says convincing landlords wasn't easy at first.

Years ago, when we sat down with landlords and said, hey, we've got this idea, we've got a pop-up Halloween store, we're going to come for two months, we'd get the look of, you know, really, why would I bother with that?

Though landlords tend to prefer long-term leases, pop-ups can be an alternative to empty space.

In the years following the Great Recession, as retail vacancies increased, landlords found that pop-ups were an effective way of filling space that had been vacant for a long time, because of course some revenue is better than no revenue.

And to make temporary leases more attractive to landlords, the company adds kick-out clauses.

If they find a space where they want to open, but the landlord finds another tenant who's willing to sign a long-term lease before a certain day, maybe it's middle of June, for example, then Spirit Halloween loses that space.

For Spirit Halloween, finding real estate is a year-round business.

When stores shut down for one season, the company is already talking to landlords about the next.

Big spaces are key, up to 50,000 square feet, often where big-box retailers used to live.

And those storefronts are often in shopping centers or strip malls, but can also be standalone.

And signing the lease is just the beginning.

The retailer says setting up the stores is another logistical challenge.

I mean, literally, we are starting from scratch in every single store.

We inherit an empty location, and we have to bring in not only all the merchandise, but all the fixturing.

We have to hire the entire staff.

According to the National Retail Federation, spending on Halloween is expected to hit a record $10.6 billion in 2022.

On average, customers are planning to spend $100 each on costumes, decor, candy and cards this year.

And 36% of customers plan to shop at specialty stores like Spirit Halloween.

And with 1,450 stores across the U.S. and Canada, it's one of the most ubiquitous.

It's a sign of fall.

It's kind of like you get your pumpkin spice latte, you're back to school, you see Spirit Halloween open up in shopping centers on your drive to work.

One of its biggest competitors, Party City's pop-up branch, Halloween City, operated 275 stores in 2019 and scaled back during the pandemic.

Spirit Halloween's pop-up model has become such a fixture of the season that it's inspired a new movie ...

Pop-up Halloween store in a creepy lot?

Awesome. ... and countless internet memes.

People joke about how quickly the company moves in after something else shuts down.

We kind of enjoy the meme value of Spirit.

We bring life and we bring joy, we bring energy, we bring a whole new reason.

And so the meme value of Spirit is recognition of that value.

That's part of the reason Spirit Halloween decided to open all of its planned 1,400 stores in 2020, while competitors opened fewer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, the company said it experienced product delays and increased shipping costs.

Last year, we didn't realize the magnitude of the issue with the supply chain until April, when suddenly everything dried up.

By the end of the season, we had received all of our merchandise, but it was through some really difficult cartwheels and somersaults.

The retailer says all of its locations are fully stocked this year.

I get food with Halloween spirit.

For fans of Halloween, the company wants to be the beginning of the holiday.

Coming to a Spirit Halloween is an event.

It's something that the fans really look forward to.

It's almost like the new season.

And when we come, that's when Halloween starts.

And for landlords with empty storefronts, Spirit Halloween continues to temporarily bring life back to those abandoned spaces.