E532 - Spirit Halloween: The Ghost That Haunts Leases

Halloween’s now a $13.5 billion biz, and yep, we’re weirdly spending more on spooky setups than actual candy. I’m talkin’ about folks dropping $115 on average, with about $4.4B on costumes, $4.3B on decorations and only $4.1B on candy — so your yard’s got a graveyard vibe while the trick-or-treaters get handed one sad Tootsie Roll. I remember when Halloween cost my folks twelve bucks and a pillowcase; now it’s artisanal candy and animatronic nightmares. Also, shoutout to Spirit Halloween — they pop into dead strip malls (like ghost landlords), run around 1,500 temp stores full of fog machines and severed head...