Regardless of if you want to be a loofah or a plain old witch this Halloween, there are a few different places you could head to get your favorite costume, and yes, I saw a loofah costume.  

Mangelsen’s has been in business since 1961 and has a legacy of being an arts and crafts store, there’s about a quarter of the store dedicated to strictly Halloween supplies. When I walked into the store, the first thing I noticed were the fake ghouls and goblins hanging from the ceiling that kind of gave a spooky feeling, which I look for when I want to buy Halloween items.  

As I walked back to the Halloween section, I saw there were a bunch of bright stickers on the costumes, showing the deals they were having on those specific costumes, which works for people on a budget, like me.  

The one thing I wasn’t too fond of when it came to Mangelsen’s was how they had their costumes arranged. They weren’t necessarily arranged by theme or costume, it was more categorized by size than anything. So when looking for any specific type of costume it might be a little hard. 

Another thing about Mangelsen’s was they had an array of sizes, including plus, which is helpful because there surprisingly aren’t many plus sized costumes. Usually plus sized clothes cost more, but there the prices were based off of how many accessories or fabric was used for the costume.  

The general prices of costumes ranged from 30 to 50 dollars. 

Although I really did like going to Mangelsen’s, Spirit Halloween impressed me. 

Spirit Halloween is a new store located at 6404 N 73rd Plaza. Honestly, I was skeptical about even going into the store because everything in that plaza is closing, so I didn’t have very high expectations. Surprisingly, I was very excited, and even startled when the doors slid open and the Michael Myres music started playing while a life-sized version of him was moving. 

As I walked throughout the store, I noticed that all the costumes were arranged in categories. One was Super Hero’s, where there were costumes like Wonder Woman and Superman. Also, in that same area there were smaller parts of that costume like knee high Wonder Woman socks, and her infamous bracelets. 

As I continued to go around the store, I found it much easier to find any specific costume. In the back corner of the store, there was an area titled Create Your Own Costume, that had so many different parts that you could mix and match to make your very own customized costume. 

There is one major difference between Spirit Halloween and Mangelsen’s. Spirit Halloween is dedicated strictly towards Halloween items, whereas Mangelsen’s has a section in their store for Halloween. With that being said, it felt as if Spirit Halloween did not have nearly as many costumes as Mangelsen’s, it was just a lot more organized and easier to find the costumes. 

Even though they are quite different, their products were quite similar, costumes around the same price, plenty of masks and makeup, and Halloween decorations, but if someone were to be looking for a wider range of options for costumes, Mangelsen’s is the place to go.