A splash of orange was added to Orange by some Orange citizens last month! For the second straight year, the old Bernie’s building at 305 Boston Post Road in Orange has gone from solid white to a very eye-catching orange heralding the opening of HALLOWEEN ZONE, the area’s largest Halloween Superstore.
Run by the same people who brought the Fright Haven haunted attraction to West Haven some years ago, HALLOWEEN ZONE takes the seasonal retail experience to a new level. Along with costumes, there are wigs, masks, accessories, hats, shoes, decorations, animatronics, scenery and everything one could desire in a Halloween shopping location. There are also classic Universal Monster dolls, vintage horror videos and rare genre DVDs, plus professional make-up and accoutrements.
Store manager Melissa Rosenay, who resides in Orange, points out that whereas most of the Halloween stores are huge chains, HALLOWEEN ZONE is a family-run seasonal one-stop where the staff truly loves Halloween and caters to the customer. Painting the store orange is now an annual traditional. “Even before we got our signs up, people were coming in when they saw the orange paint – they knew we were back,” Rosenay says.
Store hours are 10am-9pm Monday-Saturday and Noon-7pm Sunday, and there is plentiful parking in the rear. The Halloween superstore will be open through the holiday and the staff is praying there won’t be a snowstorm again on Halloween as there was last year. Assistant store manager Robert Bartiromo Jr. notes that it affected sales, but worse than that, it ruined Halloween for so many people. Along with the rest of the staff, he is looking forward to a great season serving the community with “everything Halloween.” Bartiromo is proud to point out that “while most store carry about 600 costumes, HALLOWEEN ZONE has over 6,000 in stock.”
The actual shade of orange used to decorate the store was “pumpkin passion,” probably the definitive color for Halloween, and certainly the most appropriate color for a store in Orange.
