Halloween Headquarters: Costume Row

When north’s fell wind strips summer’s green mantle, and death’s forebode grips fast thy soul, then it must be time to choose a Halloween costume.

Shops abound this time of the year to cater to the young and scary who are looking to dress up for neighborhood trick-or-treating or don more elaborate costumes for parties at nightclubs or private homes.

Shelton resident Jennifer Thibodeau saw exactly the Wednesday Addams costume she wanted online, but it was a British company that wouldn’t ship to the U.S. Hunting for it up and down the Boston Post Road, she finally found the same costume at a new shop in Orange called Halloween Zone that took over the old Bernie’s appliance store building.

“I wanted something different this year,” Thibodeau said.

In that case, Halloween Zone owner Charles Rosenay said she came to the right place. “We’ve got the one of the largest selections of zombie, werewolf, vampire and monster costumes of all sorts,” he said.

Thibodeau said she came to Orange looking for her costume, inspired by the Addams Family character, because, “They seem to open a lot of Halloween stores on the Post Road this time of year.”

Halloween Zone opened on Oct. 1, but Rosenay said he hopes to stay open year-round by catering to horror and science fiction fans. He said the store is stocked with 3,000 costumes, including the get-ups that are popular this year.

“The zombies are hot. Vampires are always hot, but zombies for the first time overtook the vampires,” Rosenay said. “And Star Wars is still so big.”

He and other shop owners said Halloween costume trends seem to depend on what’s on television and in the movies.

Little children gravitate toward television characters, choosing Smurfs and superheroes. 

Yvette Ozkul, the manager of Spirit of Halloween at the Christmas Tree Plaza in Orange, said costumes based on the Monster High dolls are popular with preteen girls.

Spirit of Halloween is a chain of the temporary stores that appear in September and turn into Spirit of Christmas stores in November.

Ozkul showed off the store’s extensive lines of Halloween house decorations, which include mechanically animated zombie babies and a frighteningly realistic Frankenstein monster.

Her favorite, however, was the Charlie Sheen costumes that popped up this year to exploit the comedy actor’s well-publicized contract dispute.

“I’m very into Charlie Sheen because of his show,” said Ozkul. Among the costume items were Charlie’s Goddesses T-shirts, Sober Valley Lodge T-shirts, Charlie Sheen masks and wigs, and even items that allude to the actor’s risqué lifestyle.

Costume Bazaar, a costume shop institution in New Haven since 1964, is now open at 1565 Boston Post Road, Milford. Owner Jeff Russell said Costume Bazaar stocks 40,000 rental costumes, wigs and makeup artists ready to transform the customer into the ghoul or monster of his or her choice.

“We’re not one of those temporary stores that pop in for a few weeks,” Russell said. Other times of the year, Costume Bazaar works for the theater, television and film entertainment industries.

“Two years ago when Michael Jackson died, we had a lot of requests from people wanting to be Michael Jackson,” he said, but this year no single costume idea is dominating the Halloween season.

Still searching for that perfect Halloween costume? Here’s a list of some nearby stores:

, 854 West Main St., Branford; 203-488-7377

Costume Bazaar Incorporated, 1565 Boston Post Rd., Milford; 203-301-4116

Halloween Zone, 305 Boston Post Rd., Orange; 203-795-4081

Spirit of Halloween, 200 Indian River Rd., Orange; 203-795-3907

Party City, 292 Boston Post Rd., Orange; 203-891-8320

Spirit of Halloween, 2300 Dixwell Ave., Hamden; 203-281-5895

The Dancer’s Shop, 1935 State St., Hamden; 203-498-7837