It’s not hard to understand why retail landlords may have had an unfavorable mindset in the past toward having a Spirit Halloween pop-up in one of their vacant spaces.
Per its own real estate guidelines, Spirit Halloween’s ideal locations are between 5,000 and 50,000 square feet of sales floor space — though the retailer further notes no space is too big or too small. The locations typically are open Sept. 1-Nov. 1 a preference for power centers, strip centers and free-standing stores with good visibility — one guideline cited is 25,000 cars passing the site each day.
The locations the retailer has leased in Central Florida this year include a former Dollar Tree in Leesburg and a former CVS in Clermont, in addition to filling in spaces previously occupied by well-known junior stores like Rooms to Go, Tuesday Morning and Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Two locations for the retailer are in malls this fall — in the former Burlington space at Seminole Towne Center and the former Sears space at Oviedo Mall.
Relatedly, Jason Kaiser, a senior vice president and principal for Dallas-based SRS Real Estate Partners’ Orlando office, said pop-ups like Spirit Halloween can be a good fit for spaces with unusual footprints or functionality issues.
“It is hard to find good-shaped, second-generation box space over 10,000 square feet — I recently did a search and found about 10 spaces and almost all of them had function or size issues,” Kaiser said. “I love the seasonal short-term tenant for this type of space.”
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