Halloween sales expected to boom, as holiday still about the kids

Adults flock to Clinton and Trump
masks, along with clown phenomenon

As she watches Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump masks fly off the shelves, the manager Halloween Express, still enjoys what the children bring to the holiday.

“My favorite is when the little people come in and they have to insist on wearing their costumes out the store,” Sarah said of those young customers at the store in the parking lot at Valley View Mall in La Crosse. “Totally dressed, head to toe, in their outfit and making grandma and grandpa or mom and dad pay. And out the door they go.”

With the adults, of course the presidential race is having an impact. But so is that recent clown phenomenon.

“A lot of people just want to have fun clowns,” she said. “Fun clowns, scary clowns, they like them all.

With costumes, candy, decorations and everything else, average Halloween spending is anticipated to top out at a record $8.4 billion – about $83 a person.