Spooky Season Starts Early: Spirit Halloween Signs Appear Across Lubbock

How close is Halloween? Close enough for the Spirit Stores to start tagging their locations with "Coming Soon" signs.

Does it seem a little too early for "spooky" for you? As I discussed elsewhere, it's really more about how the seasonal holidays flow and set up, than anyone rushing the holiday. Again, there's not much holiday-associated decorating that happens after the 4th of July, so stores jump ahead.

Then again, here's the reality of the situation. If you're reading this on June 22, the date of its publication, it's 131 days to Halloween itself. Looking at it one way, that's more than a third of a year until Halloween.

Now, let's take the fact that Lubbock's Halloween Scare Park opens in just 96 days. That personally runs chills up my spine (even though we're almost finished with updates already).

So now that we have established it's both farther away and sooner than you think, consider the fact that these stores are just marking their turf, hiring their employees, building their store infrastructure, and getting ready to stock the shelves.

Trust me, if you've ever opened a business, 131 days does not seem like an adequate time to get ready.

So let's get to those actual locations. It does appear that spooky is returning to South Plains Mall. I photographed one of those huge stickers just yesterday morning.

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The minute the giant CVS closed on 50th and Indiana, people started making jokes that there would be a Spirit Halloween Store in that spot, and lo and behold, yes, it is one of the locations.

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The other location is a familiar one. Though they weren't there last year, there is a sign on the location at 5011 Slide, on the side of the building near the 50th Street Caboose.

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We have no idea if there will be other locations, and cannot say with complete certainty that these three will be the ones that open.

If you remember, there was quite a bit of buzz about the former Big Lots being used as a store and that just didn't pan out.

Read More: Why Portillo's In Lubbock Is A Must-Try For Hot Dog Lovers

Either way, the signs are going up and Halloween fans are officially on notice.