As the first cool breeze of fall sweeps through towns and neighborhoods, many local businesses experience surges of customers that boost their profit. Families and friends tend to look for fun outings like spending time walking around pumpkin patches in the cool weather or visiting dark, creepy haunted houses that send a chill down their spines. Stores fill their windows with autumn decor and update their menus with new seasonal treats and beverages for customers to enjoy while watching the leaves fall. The fall season not only changes the weather, but also modifies consumerism with the autumn trends and seasonal hotspots every year. Businesses are quick to prepare for the trends that surround the season to make more profit during this time of year, especially when their business revolves around it.
Kuipers Family Farm is one of the biggest local organizations that benefits greatly and has a larger volume of customers during the fall season. Kuipers is a family farm located in Maple Park that is very popular among people from surrounding areas. They grow and sell pumpkins and apples, which are big parts of the profits they earn every year, as well as staples for their other popular products. They utilize their apples to make their own apple cider, which is also used to produce their apple cider donuts. Both are fan favorites among customers.
“Our busiest [season] would for sure be the fall,” said junior Allie Curth, who is currently working for Kuipers as an attraction attendant and cashier. “We just have to make sure that we’re stocked on inventory and have everything on the correct side of the street.”
entrance on a relatively busy day in October. People were coming in and out of the entrance constantly throughout the day. (Photo By Ellie Olp)
Kuipers charges more per entry during October, their busiest month, which earns them a lot more profit as it gets closer to Halloween. Along with a surge in profit for Kuipers during the fall, it can also bring challenges with their volume of customers in relation to the space in the park.
“Crowd control is a challenge for us in the fall because we have to keep a certain amount of people per attraction,” Curth shared. “It creates big lines, and also running out of supplies is really hard too.”
Another company that flourishes more in the fall is Ghoulish Mortals, a retail store located in Saint Charles. Ghoulish Mortals is popular among customers because of its scary and immersive atmosphere. It offers interesting horror-themed merchandise, which is perfect for people excited to celebrate during the weeks leading up to Halloween. It opened in 2018 and has been running since.
“The last few months of the year are really busy, especially during September and October because of Halloween,” said Dove Thiselton, one of the store’s owners. “[To prepare,] I get here earlier, and I’m restocking and reordering constantly.”
Ghoulish Mortals has surprising decorations and artifacts around every corner, making it very amusing to walk through. However, since the store is filled with decor and intricate designs, along with its interior design, it can make it difficult to navigate during its most popular season.
“The store is not built for crowds,” Thiselton said. “There are a lot of bottlenecks in the store, and so when there’s a lot of people down here, it’s just in and out and everyone gets mixed into this giant standstill.”
For one weekend in October, St. Charles holds its annual Scarecrow Fest, where they celebrate with contests and other fun activities. During the Scarecrow Fest, there is a giant eight-foot scarecrow that is put up near the middle of the town. Ghoulish Mortals also gets a lot busier during Scarecrow Fest weekend because of all of the people walking around and enjoying the festival, which takes place nearby.
“One of the contests that I do is the ‘Kids Create a Monster,’ where the kids draw a monster, and if I pick it, then I make it as the new eight-foot scarecrow each year,” Thiselton said. . “We always have them come around the corner, and then they see it and I film it. They’re usually so surprised because they’ve already forgotten about it, and now, all of a sudden, they see their creation eight feet tall.”
As people are getting ready for a frightful Halloween, another popular activity among teens and adults are haunted houses. For many haunted house businesses, the fall season, particularly the weeks leading up to Halloween, mark their busiest time of the year. This increase in popularity not only helps by increasing the haunted houses’ profits because of more visitors, but it also creates a ripple effect by benefiting nearby restaurants and shops. People tend to want to grab a bite to eat or look for more entertainment after having a thrilling experience with their friends, so they look for the nearest food options and surrounding stores.
One haunted house in particular that is especially popular in the Illinois area is Massacre Haunted House in Montgomery. Massacre usually garners a bigger audience in the fall, who all gather to see the chilling atmosphere along with all of the frightening scare actors.
“When I first walked in [to Massacre], there were a lot of people. It was crowded and very loud,” sophomore Adriana Chilleli said. “In most of the rooms I went in, I couldn’t see, so it scared me really bad.”
People have been lining up to experience Massacre’s haunting experience for around 15 years. It has over 40 rooms to walk through, each with frightening actors and decorations that contribute to the overall terrifying experience.
“The first time I went, I didn’t know what to expect because I didn’t know where the rooms were or where the actors would be,” Chilleli said. “In one of the rooms, there was fog on the ground and you couldn’t see anything, and they would unexpectedly grab your feet. That was really scary.”
Lastly, another business that largely gets most of its business in the fall is Spirit Halloween. Spirit Halloween is a chain retail store that sells Halloween costumes, decorations, props and other miscellaneous Halloween items, hence the name.
Spirit Halloween is unique for its interesting animatronics that are displayed throughout the store. They all have interactive, touch sensitive buttons that activate the animatronics. They have created all sorts of animatronics throughout the years, with their first one ever being made in 1993. Some of their animatronics feature characters from movies or TV shows, such as Art the Clown from Terrifier, Ghost Face from the movie Scream and characters from Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.
These businesses provide many unique opportunities to make the most out of the fall season. Their services and products help bring the community together to celebrate the season, making it a vibrant and exciting time for everyone.
