CAMP HILL, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--If Halloween celebrations hit the 10-year high that the National Retail Federation expects, Rite Aid will be ready. In all, the trade group is forecasting that seven in 10 Americans will celebrate, spending $8 billion across retailers nationwide. And Rite Aid stores are stocked for their fair share.
"Halloween is a great opportunity for Rite Aid's seasonal section to do what it does best – make shopping easy, convenient and fun," said Tony Montini, Rite Aid executive vice president of merchandising. "And if trick-or-treaters don't find the exact costume they're seeking, they can go beyond our aisles to browse thousands of costumes and décor at Rite Aid's newly expanded Rite Aid Online Store."
Online at www.riteaid.com/shop, Rite Aid's online Halloween store makes it easy to browse disguises and decorations by price, category, brand or, for trend-seekers, the top-selling items so far. Rite Aid email members can watch their inbox for checkout promo codes offering exclusive savings.
Also online, the 2012 Fujifilm-Rite Aid Picture Perfect Halloween Photo Contest lets photo enthusiasts submit their favorite picture in one of six categories – pumpkins, pets, decorations and costumes for babies, kids and teen/adult. At stake, the grand prize winner will get two days/nights at Hersheypark in the Dark, a seasonal celebration in Hershey, Pa., featuring more than 50 rides, spooky attractions and fall-themed food. To enter up until Nov. 7 or for more information including official rules, visit www.HalloweenPhotoContest.com.
Don't get stuck dressing up as yourself this Halloween
Hot costumes for adults range from the scary full 3D zombie costumes for men and women to flirty vampiresses and black-and-white striped jailbirds. Kids can dress up as their favorite characters including Spiderman, Captain America, Super Mario and the cast of Monster High. For pop culture spanning the generations, customers can "flock" to Rite Aid for the return of the Angry Birds outfits not to mention all the classics including princesses, lady bugs, grim reapers and Greek goddesses.
Even last-minute shoppers can mix and match accessories such as a blonde wig, witch's hat, wolf mask or creepy hand prop. To really bring the costume to life, Rite Aid stocks a wide variety of makeup kits including money-saving combo sets from Rite Aid's private label HOME including a set of a dozen professional quality colors, creams, and applicators plus fake blood and silver glitter gel. Before setting out on the candy escapades, trick-or-treaters can stock up light-up wands for safety and pumpkin pails and bags to carry the stash.
Toys, sweets and other treats
Rite Aid has enough treats to tempt all the tricksters including prewrapped assorted candies such as the 100-piece "All Time Greats" assortment of KitKat, Whoppers, Reese's and Hershey's chocolates or a 130-piece bag combining Runtz, Gobstoppers, Baby Ruth and Butterfinger candies. Both of these samplers – and many of the other large prepackaged candy bags – will be reduced from a regular price of $14.99 to $9.99 up until Halloween. To round out the classic candies, check out Rite Aid's rainbow selection of candy corn varieties.
New to Rite Aid's selection this year are 80-count bags of Sour Patch Zombie Kids, M&M's new white chocolate candy corn varieties plus returning favorite, pretzel M&Ms. And speaking of pretzel, Hershey's has brought back the Take 5, a five-layer pretzel and chocolate treat, which joins Tootsie's limited edition of caramel or apple orchard Tootsie Pops as among treats that stand out in a crowd. MilkyWay is also getting into the fun of fall with a Carmel Apple chocolate minis. Hot single serve items include the new Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins and the Cadbury Screme Egg.
Haunted house in a hurry
Rite Aid has everything a Halloween host needs to throw a hauntingly fun bash including value items from HOME such as strings of candy corn lights or window decorations including drops of blood, ghosts, and electric spiders along with their elastic webs. Animated or hanging decorations include scary undead, light-hearted witches and green solar lanterns. Returning favorites include foam tombstones and screaming doormat. Rite Aid will make sure you don't forget the most classic of decorative scares with sets of jack-o-lantern ranging from tools for a first-time carver to a pumpkin Power Saw complete with two blades and patterns.
Rite Aid can complete a home's transformation with conversation pieces such as double-walled skeleton tumblers and glasses or a large glass "grabber" to add frightful flare to a large window or car windshield. For audio-visual party accents, Rite Aid has classic DVDs from the whimsical Casper to horror hits of yesteryear. Rite Aid is also once again a destination for this year's edition of Halloween Barbie and other seasonal toys.
Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) is one of the nation’s leading drugstore chains with more than 4,600 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia and fiscal 2012 annual revenues of $26.1 billion. Information about Rite Aid, including corporate background and press releases, is available through the company’s website at www.riteaid.com.