Spirit Halloween
5725 E. Broadway Blvd.
Spirit is a nationwide Halloween superstore. There are three locations in Tucson alone: the closest to campus is on Broadway Boulevard, plus there’s another on Oracle Road near the Tucson Mall and one more on Ina Road. Spirit stores open in September and close again after first week of November.
Spirit specializes entirely in Halloween merchandise. It’s really made for Halloween lovers, especially if you’re a fan of the horror of the holiday. The store is decked out in Halloween decorations and eerie displays. Spirit has a great arrangement of costumes at reasonable prices, and an impressive amount of haunted house props. It’s probably the only place where you can buy an entire playground for life-sized zombie babies or a fully animated Freddy Krueger mannequin.
Approximate price range for an adult costume: $20-$60
Quality: 4/5
Variety: 5/5
Awesome level: it’s AWESOME
Creative Costumes
4220 E. Speedway Blvd.
Creative Costumes is Tucson’s year-round party, costume and formalwear shop. It’s a smaller store operated by a friendly staff where you can either purchase a costume or rent an outfit from their extensive collection.
This store has a fun and colorful layout, and it also features costume makeup, realistic wigs, many shoes and all kinds of specialty accessories. Since Creative Costumes is a year-round costume supplier that offers more than just Halloween merchandise, the quality of the product is much higher than your average Halloween shop. This does increase the price range, but there are some great clearance items if you look for them.
Approximate price range for an adult costume: $40-90. There are also rental options.
Quality: 5/5
Variety: 4/5
Awesome level: really cool
Party City
5385 E. Broadway Blvd.
There are two different Party City stores close to campus: one on the north side of Broadway Boulevard, and the other right across the street. The former is the store’s original location, which (for the month of October) has been converted to sell only Halloween merchandise. The latter location is bigger, housing additional Halloween items along with Party City’s regular arrangement of party supplies such as piñatas, tableware and balloons.
Party City is a big store that’s busy and chaotic, especially on weekends. But the atmosphere is fun, and it’s conveniently laid out with aisles labeled like a grocery store. Party City has costume shopping down to a science. A giant wall of posters displays every available costume. If you’re not sure quite what you want to be for Halloween yet, this might be a good place to start. Likewise, if you’re throwing a party, Party City is the only store on this list that offers a huge variety of all the supplies you would need.
Approximate price for an adult costume: $30-50
Quality: 3/5
Variety: 5/5
Awesome: it’s pretty cool
How Sweet it Was Vintage Clothing and Rentals
419 N. Fourth Ave.
You’ve probably seen the unique establishment How Sweet it Was on Fourth Avenue. The shop is one of Arizona’s oldest and largest vintage stores, serving Tucson since 1974. How Sweet it Was offers a unique shopping experience and retro atmosphere. It features racks and racks of vintage clothing and can be quite fun to explore. Aside from the actual clothes, it also offers an arrangement of interesting hats, scarves and accessories.
How Sweet it Was is the place to go if you’re planning to do something retro and creative. However, if you’re looking for a sexy getup or want to dress up as a particular character, some of the more typical Halloween shops would be more appropriate.
Approximate price for an adult costume: $20-40
Quality: 3/5
Variety: 3/5
Awesome level: really fun store
