Weather 
As a Spirit Halloween sales associate on “Halloweek,” Harmony Morkve has seen it all.
A big, biker dude squeezing into a princess dress to be the Tooth Fairy for his daughter. “Tornadoes” of people trying costumes on mid-aisle to skirt fitting room chaos.
A never-ending line at the store’s five registers — where shoppers who didn’t get the memo that all sales are final after October 22 often argue, despite the deadline being circled on every receipt.
And of course, plenty of teens donning the spooky superstore’s Penis Hat to jump out and scare their friends.
But Morkve, a 33-year-old based in American Fork, Utah, who’s worked part-time at her local Spirit since 2025, wouldn’t have it any other way.
“What’s nice is that I get so much energy from all the Halloween interactions that it’s super energizing for me,” Morkve, who’s such a massive fan of the haunted holiday that she even got married on October 31 in 2022, told The Post.
“My body can get sore from standing all night, but it’s so rewarding,” she revealed, as many locations extend their hours the last two weeks of the season, since about 70% of the company’s entire yearly sales happen during that window.
Though Morkve still has her year-round, 9-to-5 role as a remote recruiter, when the sun goes down in autumn, she goes the way of the werewolf — shedding her corporate skin for the iconic black-and-orange Spirit Halloween apron to earn extra cash at her local store of screams.
“I applied as a joke when Spirit Halloween moved into the old Big Lots a few minutes from my house,” Morkve explained. “Apparently this is just who I am now from August through November…It’s changed my life for the better.”
Morkve isn’t alone in her ghoulish passion for the over-the-top Halloween chain, which boasts 1,587 locations throughout North America and generates $1.86 billion to $2 billion in annual revenue (with NYC’s 10 to 15 pop-up locations likely accounting for several million dollars), according to KGW8 and CNBC.
Employees like Morkve often get a front row seat to the freaky fun.
“I’ve seen two kids fighting with chainsaws — being like ninjas and backflipping, doing lunges and stuff…We had to break it up, but that was very exciting to watch,” she pointed out.
“I’ve also seen a dad punch an animatronic because he got scared,” she continued, quipping that “burly, strong men” are the screamers more often than one might think. “Thankfully it didn’t break, and it was very funny, but we did have to ask him to leave.”
But the Halloween mischief at Spirit — which was founded in 1983 but wasn’t a household name until the early aughts — starts bubbling well before the first autumn leaf falls.
Hiring for upper management roles starts as early as April, according to Revelio Labs.
Store and assistant manager roles begin to fill in June. Sales associates are typically brought in in late July so they can be trained and ready to go by store openings, which kick off in late August and early September.
Setting up displays, putting up peg boards and shelving units, and unboxing/hanging all the merch and costumes takes about a week near the end of summer for sales associates and store managers, per Morkve.
All are necessary steps to get the Halloween hub up and running for the public.
“It feels like you’ve accomplished something great, because we go from an empty store to a set-up filled with life,” Morkve explained. “When the customers come, their screams, the sounds of the animatronics, the Halloween/rock music playing on the speakers…It’s magical.”
For Morkve, that magic extends to helping undecided shoppers conjure up their creativity when choosing a costume, particularly if the one they had in mind has already flown off shelves.
“Say we don’t have K-pop Demon Hunters,” said Morkve, adding that the top Netflix show’s main characters were among her Utah store’s most popular costumes last year. “I’m like, ‘Okay, if you want to be this character, let’s try to get you a purple wig, then you can braid it at home…You’re on the floor helping people, so the energy’s fun there.”
All fun and ghoulish games — until Halloween creeps closer on the calendar.
In the days leading up to October 31, full-blown, macabre mayhem is afoot among Spirit fans, with Morkve comparing the feeling to “Black Friday energy.”
During Halloweek, the store fills with more tricks than treats.
“We had someone who tried to exchange a costume that smelled like campfire smoke and had some sort of sticky substance on it,” Morkve recalled.
“There was a woman that had a baby carriage, and we thought there was a baby in there, and there was none…They were putting merchandise inside the baby carriage,” Morkve continued, clarifying that store employees are trained in theft prevention but don’t always engage to discourage potential retaliatory violence.
But when November rolls around, and the last fake skeletons are sold and straggling costumes get shipped back to various warehouses, the Spirit Halloween in-store teams raise a ghostly glass to a job well done — which fuels Morkve’s love for the holiday year-round.
“We get to bring some joy, screams, tricks and treats to the everyday American,” she said.
“You spend all year kind of drudging through life, but in the Halloween spirit, you get to dress up and be a different person, have a different personality…It’s like that one night or weekend where you can forget about your woes, forget about the world. That’s why I love it.”
