Facebook/HalloweenExpress
- Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores closed for good earlier this summer, and some are now being resurrected as Halloween costume shops.
- Stores like Spirit Halloween and Halloween City, which are only open for a few months each year, are setting up shop in abandoned Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores.
- But signage, wallpaper, and other remnants of the defunct toy retailer are everywhere, making the stores even more eerie, according to shoppers who shared their experiences on Twitter.
All of the Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores in the United States closed for good in June, after the company filed a motion to liquidate its business. Toys R Us had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2017.
Toys R Us' and Babies R Us' closing left more than 700 empty storefronts across the US.
Now, some of those stores are being resurrected as Halloween costume shops.
For temporary Halloween stores like Spirit Halloween and Halloween City, which are only open from late August through early November, the summer Toys R Us closures provided the perfect opportunity to move in.
Some who have visited the repurposed Babies R Us locations are calling the Halloween stores the "hermit crab" of
But remnants of the toy stores are everywhere. The Toys R Us wallpaper and logo are still hanging, the colorful checkered floors are still in tact, and giant photos of babies are hanging over creepy costumes.
And people are finding it, well, creepy. Some shared their reactions on Twitter.
Spirit Halloween sign hanging in the window of a shuttered Babies R Us. It's kinda beautiful - like a haunted hermit crab grabbing a new shell. pic.twitter.com/XlcK7dyBZM
- Dinosaur Dracula (@DinosaurDracula) July 23, 2018
Former Toys R Us storefront. Halloween stores are hermit crabs of the Brick and Mortar Meltdown. @wolfofwolfst pic.twitter.com/63M1uNyABt
- Mark Nugent (@mark_nugent) September 28, 2018
A Halloween store opened in one of the closed Babys R Us but it still has all the Toys R Us decorations and logos. pic.twitter.com/9fnWHJ9hgY
- 🍄✨NotNights✨🍄 (@PixieVenus) September 18, 2018
We're at a Halloween store that used to be at a babies r us and it's so surreal pic.twitter.com/H7DLb7qqqO
- tiny baby man ramuda @ 3 days (@StyleShinjuku) September 22, 2018
I went inside the Halloween City and found some cool Toys R Us stuff. pic.twitter.com/3Hf5VKcQN6
- Sara Braeutigam (@SaraBraeutigam) September 25, 2018
We went to the Halloween store in the old toys r us today and the wallpaper is still up as well as half the store being like roped off/empty it's so creepy and surreal pic.twitter.com/2pACGJjySk
- kira â“‹ (@xqueenofplantsx) September 24, 2018
Our Toys R Us turned into a Spirit Halloween.
That's literally the equivalent of a child growing up to be an emo teen pic.twitter.com/K4KmbEKVJo
- CuteLittleAngel (@xCuteLilAngelx) September 26, 2018