Spirit Halloween will hire a record 52,000 seasonal associates

Sure, some of your coworkers have some skeletons in their closets, but imagine working for a retailer where the stockroom is filled with them. If you like how that sounds, dust off your résumé (but maybe leave some cobwebs on it for effect) because Spirit Halloween plans to hire more than 52,000 seasonal workers in advance of the spookfest.

That’s a significant bump from the 40,000 the company expected to hire in advance of the 2023 Halloween season, and a return to growth beyond the 50,000 it projected hiring in both 2024 and 2025.

Spirit Halloween also reports that the 1,575 stores it will open in the US and Canada this season is a record.

Some growth in the segment in recent years no doubt comes from the growing enthusiasm for Summerween, a summertime twist on the holiday, with retailers including Michaels reporting that Summerween has prompted them to introduce their Halloween collections earlier than ever. Walmart, TJ Maxx, and Home Goods also got a jump on the holiday last year with Summerween collections.

At Spirit Halloween, sales associate applicants must be at least 16, so it could be a boon for high school students for whom finding a summer job has been a challenge. Only 30% of those aged 16–19 held jobs in May, down from 32.9% working in May 2024 and 30.8% in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Spirit Halloween, meanwhile, has put on long johns for the winter holiday season, too. Its Spirit Christmas concept launched with 10 stores in 2024 which, fittingly, snowballed to 30 in 2025. Some of the Yuletide locations simply transition from Spirit Halloween stores, while others are new leases for the company.