SAN ANTONIO – Halloween is still a month away, but the pop-up stores are already crawling with people ready to celebrate and spend.
"Surprisingly, it's been busier than usual," said Joshua Elder, with the Spirit Halloween store at Wonderland of the Americas mall at Crossroads and Interstate 10 West. "People will come in here and spend their last dime for their child, just to see the look on their face."
Matthew Morin, 9, was picking out his Raphael the Mutant Ninja Turtle costume.
"He looks scary," he said.
While his mom, Justine Delgado, was scaring up the cash. So far, she said she's spent about $130 on Halloween.
"And we're not done yet," she said.
Shoppers apparently aren't afraid to open up their wallets for the holiday.
The average person will spend $77.52 this year, compared to $75.03 last year, according to a survey for the National Retail Federation.
Overall spending is expected to hit $7.4 billion on costumes, decorations, cards and candy.
Nearly $2.8 billion is for costumes, and that includes $350,000 on costumes for the family pets.
Anything from the movie "Frozen" is hot this year. And superheroes are big, as usual.
With the fright fest falling on a Friday, retailers expect plenty of people to get into the spirit of things.