{"id":19295,"date":"2026-10-29T07:56:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=19295"},"modified":"2026-10-29T07:56:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:56:04","slug":"spirit-halloweens-ceo-says-tariffs-nearly-put-it-out-of-business-then-it-had-its-best-year-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=19295","title":{"rendered":"Spirit Halloween\u2019s CEO says tariffs nearly put it out of business. Then it had its best year ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Standing in the White House Rose Garden, President Donald Trump declared April 2, 2025, would be now known as \u201cLiberation Day.\u201d That day, he announced tariffs on imports from nearly every country on earth, and promised \u201cjobs and factories will come roaring back\u201d to the U.S.<\/p>\n

Within days, after China retaliated, the U.S. tariff on Chinese goods rose to 145%. The increase came just as Spirit Halloween\u2019s goods began shipping from Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was going to put us out of business,\u201d Steven Silverstein, CEO of Spirit\u2019s parent company, Spencer Spirit Holdings, told Fortune.<\/p>\n

Silverstein said the tariffs were worse for Spirit than COVID. In March 2020, every Spencer\u2019s store closed just as Spirit was choosing locations and signing leases for the fall. The company decided to go ahead with Halloween anyway and opened all of its stores that September. In spite of all that went down that year, he said the business has more than doubled since 2019.<\/p>\n

Steven Silverstein<\/p>\n

But the tariffs were harder because they hit in the middle of shipping season. \u201cThey were implemented immediately without giving business the opportunity to really react in any kind of logical way,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were being ripped around like a yo-yo.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 75% to 80% of Spirit\u2019s merchandise is designed and sourced by the company, mostly in Asia, and it moves on a tight schedule through distribution centers and 63 third-party logistics sites before reaching more than 1,550 stores, a process Silverstein says runs all year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt skyrocketed right in the middle of our shipping season,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery day is critical to us.\u201d Spirit had to stop the ships. A group of executives set up what Silverstein called a war room.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou start burning the furniture,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to preserve your cash.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company suspended all capital spending and cut costs across its teams. Silverstein called a meeting of the whole company.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, look, this is going to be really rough seas, but this is what we\u2019ve got to do to get from here to there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On May 12, the U.S. and China agreed to cut the tariff to 30%. Spirit restarted shipping, but its goods were six weeks behind. Silverstein restored everything the company had cut.<\/p>\n

Spirit didn\u2019t raise prices to cover the tariffs. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it would be irresponsible, if nothing else,\u201d he said. \u201cAll we do is Halloween. Without knowing what the outcome would be, that could be really dangerous. And so we ate the tariffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

To make up for lost time, Spirit hired even more workers, not fewer. Stores opened about two weeks to two and a half weeks late\u2014but even then, Silverstein said it was the company\u2019s best year ever.<\/p>\n

Steven Silverstein at a Spirit of Children event.<\/p>\n

Steven Silverstein<\/p>\n

The Spirit of Children<\/p>\n

Silverstein said critics see a chain that rents empty stores for a few weeks as opportunists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re carpetbaggers,\u201d he said, describing that view. \u201cThey just come in, they occupy and then they go away, and they take their circus on the road. We don\u2019t think of ourselves that way at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2006, three years after he became CEO, Spirit threw a Halloween party for children in a hospital, with costumes, music, and art supplies. It started with eight hospitals in New Jersey, where the company is still based today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese kids lit up,\u201d he said. \u201cThey got into their Spider-Man costume, and they were Spider-Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steven Silverstein at a Spirit of Children event.<\/p>\n

Steven Silverstein<\/p>\n

The company later added fundraising at the register so shoppers can round up their purchase or add a fixed donation, and all of the money goes to the child life department at a local hospital. That pays for staff, playrooms and therapy beyond medical care.<\/p>\n

So far, Spirit of Children has raised more than $164 million since 2006, at an average of about $1.25 per donation, Silverstein said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a story of microphilanthropy,\u201d he said. \u201cYou take millions and millions of people, and you give a little amount each.\u201d <\/p>\n

Silverstein said the program is one reason seasonal workers return.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I speak to associates, why are you coming back to Spirit? Because I love Spirit of Children so much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This year, the program\u2019s 20th anniversary, Spirit aims to raise $20 million. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year it grows,\u201d Silverstein said. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

#Spirit #Halloweens #CEO #tariffs #put #business #year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Standing in the White House Rose Garden, President Donald Trump declared April 2, 2025, would…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[245],"tags":[272,585,6702,960,18014,23528,23520,23521,1268,8767,551,85],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}