Halloween 2021: A Trend Story

Note: This was part of my Journalism course at Fashion Institute of Technology.

Address of the Halloween store:

Abracadabra, 19 W 21st St between 5th and 6th Ave, New York, NY.

Abracadabra: a Magical Supply Trail in the heart of New York City

If you’re in Midtown Manhattan just for Halloween shopping, a spooky yet unusual shop on 21st St 6th Ave might catch your eye. With a rather eerie welcome right away of yellow crime scene tapes wound around its visual display, it is bound to make you pause your footsteps in the middle of your bagel run. 

Located rather conveniently across every New Yorker’s favorite Trader Joes The Abracadabra store is as old as its first Manhattan branch that opened in 1996. If you aren’t attentive you may miss 6th Ave’s mirage, located on one of the lanes of W 21st Street, rather becomes visible only during festive times of the year, as described by one of Abracadabra’s salesman. From EDM concert touring in New York City and around, to Halloween and Christmas, one would let go of their anxiety of having forgotten to order their Trick-or-Treat outfit in advance, because Abracadabra, the spooky outfit and accessories to adorn yourself are right here!

 

Abracadabra, your incantation to look ghoulish will actually come true this Halloween. 

The original Abracadabra predates 1996 and has been standing proudly as the go-to for halloween accessories in West Village, New York since 1981. With merchandise ranging from $32 to $120, the spooky store at this time of the year also otherwise makes tremendous profits from solely existing as a festive market for New Yorkers.

 

With customers rather enthusiastically storming the Abracadabra store in and out with their grocery bags and handful of iced coffees, I wouldn’t blame them for their eager eyes willing to grab that spooky look. 

 

At one point, I thought I had nothing to wear for the eve of October 31st, now, I feel I have too many to wear and choose from!  

 

Like the abracadabra spell, the store shall cast you a spell making it difficult to choose. As soon as you enter you shall be greeted (or rather scared away) by a wax 1701 policeman in shining armour at the entrance, as if to say: you have been warned. The store is filled with not just gleeful buyers but also enthusiastic salesmen. Beware; if you get greeted by a skeletal hand, as a man in his all dark casual attire and hoodie what resembled to be a sort of friendly workplace uniform poked me. Just as I gasp he giggles at my shock to think an actual skeleton greeted me.

The store set in its twilight Halloween theme of dark ceilings and dusky walls with spooky mountings of Halloween folklore such as Half Dead man in the coffin, resurrected man has its ways to set the tone for your Halloween shopping from skeletal hand pokes, yellow crime scene tapes to a realistic-looking Sphinx with its lion body and human head with a bleeding crimson apple in its mouth. Abracadabra will amaze you with its creative visual merchandise. 

 

Here’s one classic Abracadabra display: putting fake realistic-impressions of human organs as if they’ve been cut out on neatly assembled meal trays in lit up freezing glass display. For a moment, one would get confused and think if this is a Halloween store or a butcher’s meat shop. The products that almost every buyer was giving considerable efforts on was the accessories category. It mattered a lot from a man telling his elderly father why he wanted to go for that Harry Potter wizard hat to a bunch of adolescent women having heated discussions on what right eye and hair accessories would go for their nature faerie and nymph looks.

When asked what character they intended to dress as, most people responded with a faerie or a pirate look. Some last minute buyers chose a zebra print costume. The heavy que of customers had more of accessories, and less of costumes in their hands, from 2 men in their casual blazers carrying pirate eyepatches and hats, to women buying fairy wings and eye decorative makeup to a man in his black suit and striped hat buying just a skull metal necklace. It was as if Abracadabra had anticipated, it put the costumes on Level 2 and the creepy music of bats and ravens chirping calling you to the basement with a rather tempting Satan’s skull-clad gateway “Come down.” Level 1 was the highlight- all the accessories you needed to shop first. There is also makeup, and mind you, water-based colors that ‘can be easily removed by water with no after-effect on your skin’ as a salesman demonstrates. 

 

Abracadabra’s Level 2 is a travel back in time to the Golden Age of Greece and a travel further in time when our favorite superheroes shall save us from the end of the world. Dedicated to costumes of folk culture heroes, from Marvel Comics and X-men to Greek gods and goddesses. The aisle is filled with costumes of the folklore and also references to pop culture icons, which include rockstar imitations, politicians, food personifications like a literal hamburger costume, occupational costumes like a doctor, WWII nurse, mechanic and so on. 

                

With this, the 21st Street, 6th Ave’s magical Abracadbra is growing popular among the festive shoppers hunting for a in-person spooky festive shopping experience in the heart of New York City. Go get your magical supplies Mondays to Saturdays 11 AM-7 PM EST!