It’s no trick- although Randy and Gayle Vaartjes say it has been a treat transforming West Michigan every Halloween for decades, The Kostume Room will close at the end of the year.
FOX 17 The business, which offers thousands of costume rentals and accessories, started with Gayle’s sewing skills.
FOX 17 She stitched together a side hustle after deciding to stay home with their young daughter.
“I never was a fan of Halloween. I never got involved in it,” she explained. “I just made costumes for our daughter, and that’s all I knew about Halloween…[my sister and I] made a bunch of costumes, and we put it in like a consignment store.”
The costumes were a hit, leading Gayle to expand from kids’ garb to outfitting adults.
“Adults are into Halloween too, and they’re more into Halloween than the kids are I tell you,” she told FOX 17 News.
Courtesy: The Kostume Room Together she and Randy took the business full-time, opening seasonal storefronts in Rogers Plaza in the ’90s, before buying a building on 36th Street in 2001 to serve customers year-round.