What were these WNY stores before they were Spirit Halloween stores?

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — It’s almost October, meaning spooky season and Halloween is getting close.

A staple of Halloween is Spirit Halloween stores, which pop up all across the country as the holiday gets closer and closer.

Spirit Halloween has also become something of a running joke on the internet, with pictures banners from the store edited onto businesses that close down.

You may wonder what these stores were before they became the Halloween pop-ups? There are 12 locations in Western New York listed on Spirit Halloween’s website. Below, you can see what each location used to be.

3249 Sheridan Drive, Amherst

459 South Transit Street, Lockport

47 Niagara Street, Tonawanda

All three of these locations used to be Rite-Aid stores. All three closed earlier this year when the company filed for bankruptcy in October 2023. The Amherst location had been a Rite-Aid as far back as 2007.

1583 Niagara Falls Boulevard, Buffalo

3701 McKinley Parkway, Blasdell

Both of these locations used to be Bed, Bath & Beyond locations, including the Blasdell store in the McKinley Mall. Both closed when the company closed down all of their locations in 2023.

3791 Union Road, Cheektowaga

This location was a Deb Shops, a women’s clothing store, up until 2015 when the franchise closed all of their stores nationwide. Deb’s filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and then again in 2014.

1656 Military Road, Niagara Falls

This location in the Fashion Outlets in Niagara Falls used to be a Kirkland’s home goods store. The franchise currently has a location in Cheektowaga.

3525 Seneca Street, West Seneca

This location was a Goodwill in at least 2016 but was gone by May 2023. A new Goodwill location opened at Southgate Plaza in West Seneca in October 2022.

318 East Fairmount Avenue, Lakewood

400 North Union Street, Olean

Both of these locations used to be Bon-Ton department store until the retailer filed for bankruptcy and closed all of its stores in 2018. The Lakewood location was in the Chautauqua Mall, and the Olean location was in the Olean Center Mall.

587 East Main Street, Batavia

This location used to be a Ashley HomeStore Outlet at least in 2019 and 2020. Ashley HomeStore, the furniture store, has a full location located on West Main Street in Batavia.

1170 Central Avenue, Dunkirk

This location was formerly a JC Penney clothing store when it closed in 2017, when it was among over 130 store nationwide that closed. The retailer still has multiple stores in the area.

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Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here.

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