The Athens Halloween Block Party is a big deal to partygoers, but some local businesses struggle to turn a profit.
Mary Cheadle, owner of Uptown Dog T-Shirts, 9 W. Union St, and 10 West Clothing, 10 W. Union St., said she has had difficulties in the past with vendors affecting her sales on Halloween. Before vendors from out of town began selling at the block party, Uptown Dog sold “literally thousands” of shirts each year.
Cheadle said vendors from outside Athens caught on to the Halloween event and hurt her sales at Uptown Dog.
“At the time (other vendors) came in, we objected to it completely, only because it was an out-of-town business — no affiliation, no city taxes being paid — that were competing with us,” Cheadle said. “They were able to sell things without abiding by the rules that we did.”
Cheadle tried to license the words "Athens Halloween” and “Halloween in Athens” so that other vendors would not be able to sell shirts with those slogans.
Cheadle said she quickly found out there was no way to enforce that. Uptown Dog also has to follow certain trademark rules through the university — she said she can’t include the words “party” and “Ohio University” on the same shirt. Outside vendors did, however, and sold more shirts because of it.
Other local businesses are also hurt by vendors who have no affiliation with Athens, Cheadle said. She said she sides with small businesses in this issue.
“Our local people who have year-round brick-and-mortar stores are not selling as much as people that are in the vending booths and have no affiliation with Athens,” Cheadle said. “I can understand where (local people are) coming from, and I side with them that something should be done about it.”
Cheadle said she has not had many issues with competition for T-shirts in the last few years, but sales in general have been down during Halloween time.
“Here’s the thing about owning a business in Athens: As much as we all can be open every day and sell every day all year long, there are truly only seven or eight events in Athens that really bring the money for a basic retail store,” Cheadle said.
Cheadle said Uptown Dog used to be a big sponsor for Halloween, but due partly to lack of support from the city, she decided to stop sponsoring the block party.
Unlike Cheadle, Janet Santone, owner of Uptown Costumes, 12 S. Court St., said Halloween has not affected her sales, but online shopping has.
“What probably affects us the most are online sales, people who don’t shop in town,” Santone said. “We really appreciate people who do shop in town. Halloween is the best time of year. Without Halloween, we wouldn’t be here.”
Athens City Councilman Peter Kotses, D-At Large, owns Athens Bicycle, 4 W. Stimson Ave., and said he knows some businesses “kind of suffer” during Halloween.
“What is funny is that we have good weekends and we have bad weekends,” he said. “I feel like Halloween is a thing where some businesses kind of suffer a little bit, but there are other businesses that do really really well selling beer or (other things catered to Halloween).”
Kotses said vendors must purchase a permit to sell during Halloween. The permits offset some of the city’s costs for Halloween.
“The total for all of the fests and Halloween is floating around 80 or 90 thousand dollars for setup and police and stuff like that,” he said. “Of course, the vendors permit’s don’t do a ton to offset it.”
More food vendors, Kotses said, could also be seen as positive to accommodate the large number of people coming to Athens for Halloween and drinking.
“The additional food vendors that end up Uptown, they kind of help offset the excessive alcohol that can be consumed over the weekend,” Kotses said. “Adding food to that sometimes can stop some issues.”
