09/30/2026
For 15 years, we’ve been in the business of scaring Islanders. This year, we’re the ones who are scared. 🎃
Halloween Central was born right here in PEI. What started as one store on the North River Causeway grew to locations in Summerside and Nova Scotia, and at our peak we employed 78 people.
Our daughters grew up with Halloween Central it was their first job. Now our grandchildren are growing up around it too. The little girl at the cash register in our first photo is our granddaughter, playing store just last week.
But this story is about much more than our family. It’s about what shopping local really means.
For 15 years, Halloween Central has supported other businesses right here at home. Our signs are printed at FastSigns, our business cards and price tags at Press For Time, our accounting is done by MRSB, our oil comes from Kenmac and our cleaning supplies from Kays-A1.
We also hire local businesses for our furnace, roof, plumbing, security, cameras, graphic design, lawn care, snow removal and property maintenance.
Money spent at a locally owned business gets spent again with other local businesses that employ other Islanders.
SOMETHING CHANGED FOR HALLOWEEN CENTRAL LAST YEAR.
🇺🇸 Spirit Halloween, a large U.S. based seasonal retailer, opened in Charlottetown. This year, in the former Toys “R” Us location.
Last year, after they entered the Charlottetown market, our sales dropped approximately 70%.
We hoped this year would be different.
It isn’t. It’s worse.
With September coming to an end, Halloween Central has taken in only about $2,000 in sales for the month not even enough to cover our wages for the period.
Our sales are now down more than 80%.
See what we have. Talk to our staff. Compare our prices.
And when you compare, make sure you’re comparing Canadian dollars to Canadian dollars.
At Halloween Central, our prices are displayed in Canadian dollars, and we match advertised Canadian prices.
At 🇺🇸 Spirit Halloween, we found some merchandise marked only with a U.S. price, while other tags display the U.S. price prominently with the Canadian price in much smaller print. We also found merchandise where the displayed price had been covered and the item had to be taken to the cash to determine its current price.
Look carefully. Compare. Then make your own decision about where you want your Halloween dollars to go.
Our shelves are full.
Our parking lot is empty.
That has to change.
Halloween Central cannot survive as it is today.
If things don’t change, Halloween Central may not be here for another Halloween.
🇺🇸 Spirit Halloween operates more than 1,550 seasonal stores across North America.
Halloween Central has one.
🇺🇸 Spirit come to PEI for the Halloween season.
This is our home. And when Halloween is over, we would still like to be here.
Halloween Central opens every Friday throughout the year because Islanders need costumes for more than Halloween birthday parties, school events, theme parties, fundraisers, plays, special occasions and sometimes that unexpected costume somebody suddenly needs in February.
If we want local businesses to be here when we need them, we have to support them while they’re here. Once they’re gone, wishing we still had them won’t bring them back.
We’re not asking anyone to shop with us out of pity, and we’re not telling anyone where they have to spend their money.
We’re simply asking Islanders to give local a chance.
In a community our size, where we choose to spend our money matters.
If you want PEI to continue having a locally owned, year-round costume store, we need your support this year.
Whatever happens from here, we will always be incredibly grateful to the Islanders who have supported Halloween Central over the years.
You are the reason one little store on the North River Causeway grew into something much bigger than we ever imagined.
We’ve participated in community events, dressed up in ridiculous costumes, driven our Halloween Central hearse around, made friendships and collected memories we’ll always cherish. The old pictures we’re sharing today brought back memories we’d almost forgotten.
We hope it isn’t the end of our story.
Our daughters grew up with Halloween Central. For many years, October brought out entire together as one team everyone had a role, everyone knew what needed to be done, we simply pulled together and got it done.
For our family, October meant Halloween Central.
Now our grandchildren are growing up around it too.
We’re just asking for the chance to keep the story going. 🎃❤️
📍 Halloween Central family
97 St. Peter’s Road, Charlottetown
