From Chucky masks and Hannibal Lecter overalls to accessories such as fake blood and coloured contact lenses, Magic Box in Newcastle is well geared up to meet Halloween demand - and that demand is growing by the day.
Having already sold out of lots of costumes, the city centre fancy dress shop has now restocked with more as queues, which started building up last Friday, show no signs of easing. Extra workers have been brought in to help man the tills and security staff are managing the lines of people waiting in the street to join the flow through its small entrance door on Northumberland Street and up the stairs to the first floor sales room.
Among them are lots of students, many of them after a convict's outfit which is proving one of the top sellers this year. Manageress Emma Robson explained that the theme of an upcoming freshers' night is cops and robbers and this £18 orange convict's overall fits the brief well. Magic Box has been doing big business for 30 years in Newcastle and knows its market well.
Read more: New Magic Box owners Smiffys share love of Newcastle and Halloween
When its owners announced their retirement this year, it was taken over in the summer by leading fancy dress supplier Smiffys which already had been providing costumes there for years. Emma joined the existing shop staff and has been braced for a busy Halloween and similar scenes to last year's extensive queues.
The men's Chucky outfits, which Smiffys predicted would be a best seller, have all disappeared from the shelves but there are some women's versions and masks remaining. On Wednesday, as all ages milled around the packed shop space with more than 140 characters to choose from, the staff were working flat-out.
The big student Halloween night out is expected to be this Saturday and, to ensure that it can keep meeting demand, Magic Box will be extending its hours, to open from 9am until 9pm, then from 11am to 5pm on Sunday, before gearing up for a last-minute rush on October 31 itself.
There are plenty of costumes for children too, and World Book Day, like Halloween, is one of the shop's busiest time of the year. Other big-hitters are stag and hen events and Christmas dos. The shop has already stocked up for the festive season, with the likes of Santa outfits and fake bellies included.
Read more:
- Specsavers warn of risks in novely Halloween contact lenses
- How to play Beamish Cluedo
- Top 10 scariest films - and we're talking proper chillers not slashers
- Most haunted locations around Newcastle
- North East's creepy castles and poltergeist pubs
- How 14 witches and a wizard were executed on Newcastle Town Moor
- Scariest North East ghost walks
- Junkyard Golf Club to host a Disco is Dead party
