Halloween Profits Will Be Monstrous

"Halloween spending has been going up each year since the mid-'90s, and last week the Retail Council of Canada predicted even more monstrous Halloween sales this year: we're expected to spend a record $800 million, up from $700 million in 2000" (Montreal Gazette).
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Halloween is now the second biggest holiday of the year for retail sales generated. (Christmas is still first.)
Halloween spending is now on a par with back-to-school time spending.
An estimated 85 per cent of Canadians now decorate their homes for the holiday and 23 per cent their offices.
Canadians spent $205 million on Halloween sweets - up 6 per cent from 2001 - and sales are expected to rise again this year.
Other big sellers are costumes and decorations. This year consumers could spend more than $2.4 million at clothing rental/costume stores; $7.6 million at stationery stores; $6.7 million at discount stores; and $39 million at miscellaneous and specialty stores.
Source: Diane Brisebois, president of the Retail Council of Canada.