Spirit Halloween is opening 85 stores this season in buildings that used to be Party City, the party-goods chain that liquidated last year. It is not the biggest number on the list. JOANN accounts for 137.
Spirit’s store locator went live on July 29, and most listings quietly name the business that was there before. We pulled all 1,299 locations listed that day. 1,102 of them, 85%, name a former tenant.
The four chains that account for a third of the map
| Former tenant | Spirit stores | What happened to it |
|---|---|---|
| JOANN | 137 | Liquidated in 2025 |
| Big Lots | 93 | Bankruptcy and store closures, 2024 to 2025 |
| Party City | 85 | Liquidated in 2025 |
| Rite Aid | 68 | Liquidated in 2025 |
Those four total 383 stores, 29.5% of every Spirit Halloween location listed. Nearly one in three.
Party City is the one worth sitting with. It was the closest thing Spirit had to a year-round competitor in costumes and party goods, it went under, and Spirit is now selling Halloween out of 85 of its buildings. California has 10 of them, New York nine, and Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Illinois six each.
Which chains are on the list, and what counts as dead
Fifteen of the chains Spirit replaced have fully liquidated or wound down. Here is the whole list, because a percentage is worth nothing without one.
| Chain | Spirit stores | Status |
|---|---|---|
| JOANN | 137 | 2025 liquidation |
| Big Lots | 93 | 2024 to 2025 bankruptcy |
| Party City | 85 | 2025 liquidation |
| Rite Aid | 68 | 2025 liquidation |
| Bed Bath & Beyond | 23 | 2023 liquidation |
| Tuesday Morning | 23 | 2023 liquidation |
| Forever 21 | 17 | 2025 liquidation |
| Toys “R” Us | 17 | 2018 liquidation |
| Sears | 15 | Long wind-down |
| Conn’s | 12 | 2024 liquidation |
| Pier 1 Imports | 9 | 2020 liquidation |
| 99 Cents Only | 7 | 2024 liquidation |
| buybuy BABY | 7 | 2023 liquidation |
| Kmart | 3 | Long wind-down |
| Christmas Tree Shops | 2 | 2023 liquidation |
That is 518 stores, 47% of the 1,102 locations that name a former tenant, and 39.9% of all 1,299 listed. Count the list differently and you get a different number, which is why the list is here.
The other half is local
The long tail is the part that does not make a chart. 238 of the 335 distinct former tenants appear exactly once. An arcade in one town. A thrift store in another. Beyond the Barn. Bin and Win. Bargain Brothers. Anchor Chime Solutions.
Some of the space Spirit took is not dead at all. Twenty-two locations are former CVS stores, eight are former Walgreens, and eight are former Macy’s, all chains that are still trading and simply closed those particular doors. Six are former Best Buy, six former Petco, six former Burlington.
A further 163 listings give a neighbor instead of a predecessor, the “next to 24 Hour Fitness” kind of note, and 34 give nothing at all.
Spirit Christmas is doing the same thing in December
The seasonal-tenancy model is expanding past Halloween. Spencer’s has been growing Spirit Christmas, which went from about a dozen stores in 2024 to 30 across 12 states in 2025, and some Spirit Halloween locations convert straight into a Christmas store when the season flips. Spencer’s has not published a 2026 Spirit Christmas count.
That turns a three-month Halloween lease into something closer to six months in the same building, which is a different proposition for a landlord sitting on a vacant big box.
How we counted
Spirit’s locator publishes a page for every store with the address, coordinates, and a short descriptor line. We read all 1,299 pages listed on July 29, 2026 and grouped the descriptors that begin with “Former.”
Two caveats worth stating plainly. This is a single-day snapshot, taken hours after the locator went live. Spirit says it is opening 1,575 stores this season and 1,299 were listed, so the map is still filling in and these counts will move. And the descriptors are Spirit’s marketing copy rather than lease records, so they tell you what Spirit tells shoppers was there, which is not always the last tenant.
More 2026 Halloween retail coverage from HAN
- Spirit Halloween Locations 2026: Every Store, State by State
- New Hampshire Has More Spirit Halloween Stores Per Person Than Any State
- When Does Spirit Halloween Open in 2026?
- Working at Spirit Halloween in 2026: Pay, Hiring Age, and How to Apply
- Spirit Halloween Reveals Its 2026 Animatronics Collection
- Spirit Halloween’s First-Ever Freddy Fazbear Animatronic Is Real, Life-Size, and $500
- The Licensed IPs Taking Over 2026 Halloween Decor
- Spirit Halloween’s Owner Is Buying Hot Topic, BoxLunch, and Her Universe
Based on a Haunted Attraction Network review of all 1,299 Spirit Halloween locations listed on the company’s store locator on July 29, 2026. Store counts are a snapshot and will change as Spirit adds locations through August.
