Why Malabar wasn't banking on Halloween anymore in 1986
Costume rental business was finding a market in opera companies
It had been another busy Halloween at Malabar, a company known for renting out costumes of all kinds.
"Halloween's over. The kids are still counting the candies, the retailers are counting their cash," said Michael Vaughan, reporting for CBC's Venture on Nov. 2, 1986.
Malabar was among those retailers cashing in on Halloween, and scenes at the store leading up to Oct. 31 were evidence of that.
"A pirate moustache?" an employee was overheard saying on the phone as the store's cashier queue, aisles and fitting rooms were abuzz with customers. "Yes, we do. We have it in real hair or artificial."
Stepping back from Halloween...
"There are 10,000 costumes for rent here," noted Vaughan. "And a bottomless supply of greasepaint, powder, wigs, nails, rubber ears and vampire teeth."
People of all ages were seen trying on costumes including a pair of bees, a Vulcan and various figures from centuries past.
Malabar had been busy that week, Vaughan added, "but not as busy as it used to be."
"Today, we probably garner only five per cent of our income from Halloween," said manager Bill Tucker, as two young men could be seen trying on costumes behind him.
... while others step up
"Why? Because a lot of other retailers got smart," said Vaughan, who said Canadians had spent about $50 million on Halloween the previous year. Retailers like Shoppers Drug Mart had made an effort to pull in some of that spending.
"Our confectionery sales go up about 25 per cent, compared to an average week," said Mike Fell, a spokesperson for the pharmacy chain, of the Halloween period at his stores.
At the same time, Malabar had dramatically expanded its business to another sector where costume rental was needed: opera companies in Canada and, increasingly, in the United States.
"We have become the main source of supply for that kind of thing now," said Tucker, who explained that due to their non-profit status, companies in the United States were exempt from paying duties for the costumes shipped to them.
Venture went behind the scenes at Malabar, where the designers and sewers working in its "catacombs" to build costumes didn't even think about the "Halloween crazies."
"The secret to success is a good quality costume that is very much adjustable," said Vaughan. "Tosca's bishop might be one size in Calgary and quite another size for the bishop in Boston."
Still, Malabar was keeping a hand in Halloween.
"I think probably the market for Halloween stuff is finite," said Tucker. "It may well be that five years from now they'll all be out of doing that kind of thing, and we'll be back where we were two years ago."
