Spirit Halloween to open 1st Christmas spinoff store in May's Landing, New Jersey

NEW YORK -- When the latest spooky season passes, it won't mark the end for some Spirit Halloween stores, with the chain planning to convert some locations and keep them open for the holidays.

The retailer is opening a total of 10 Spirit Christmas stores, primarily in the US Northeast, filled with the winter holidays-themed items including gifts, decorations and inflatables. A "life-sized" gingerbread village and the opportunity to get a picture with Santa will also be available when they open, mostly in November, the company has announced.

"Our goal is to create a festive retail experience that captures the spirit of the season, much like we do for Halloween," a spokesperson told CNN.

The pop-up chain will be a mixture of some converted Spirit Halloween stores and new locations. A flagship Spirit Christmas store in May's Landing, New Jersey, will be the first to open on October 18, with the others opening a few weeks later.

Marlton and Brick Township will also be opening locations in the Philadelphia region.

This year, Spirit Halloween opened a record 1,525 stores in the United States and Canada. The chain, owned by mall stalwart Spencer Gifts, typically opens up to eight weeks before Halloween, usually in empty storefronts, and closes shortly after.

Spirit Halloween doesn't release sales figures, but the haunted holiday is a big business in the US overall, with $11.6 billion forecasted to be spent on costumes, decorations and other items this year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

The winter holidays are even a bigger business for Spirit Halloween to tap into: Last year, spending across the country grew nearly 4% to a record $964 billion, the NRF said.