Halloween Pop-Up Shops Are Back, Caitlyn Jenner Costumes and All

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

The only thing more terrifying than the spookiest holiday of them all? If every single empty storefront in your city were to be suddenly transformed into a crowded labyrinth of ill-fitting (and often ill-advised) polyester costumes wrapped in plastic. Of course this is exactly what happens in New York every single year: Yes, the Halloween pop-up shops are back.

No surprise as to the first to arrive, just in time for the unofficial last day of summer: Spirit Halloween, home of the oh-hey-maybe-don't-wear-that Caitlyn Jenner costume, which Bowery Boogie reports has taken over the former Chase Bank on Delancey Street. While there will most certainly be dozens more to follow, at least we know of someone who's excited for them: the New York Post, which last year published a diatribe against "retail snobs" who loved to make fun of them. We're keeping quiet on that front.