It's very much a joke in the Quad Cities that when stores, especially big-box stores close, Spirit Halloween will move in. And no one makes that joke as often or as well-timed as the person who runs the Quad-City memes Facebook page.

The thing is that it's not a secret. Spirit Halloween stores only go up in empty buildings that were once home to a large store. You see them take over vacant stores across Illinois and Iowa. The Halloween Store in Davenport was inside the old Dick's Sporting Goods store until it moved to the American Freight store off of Kimberly next to Harbor Freight.

It makes sense. Spirit Halloween is only shopped at during the month of October. Well, this year through Christmas it will be renamed to Spirit Christmas so a couple more months, but Spirit Halloween doesn't need to be a year-round store.

Spirit Halloween
Spirit Halloween
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As funny as Quad-City memes joking about places in the Quad Cities turning into a Spirit Halloween, it's not far from the truth.

The folks at BetMGM did some research to find out what former stores Spirit Halloween typically goes into. They looked at locations in major U.S. cities to find out which recognizable retailers’ storefronts are most often turned into Spirit Halloweens. These are the top 5:

  1. Bed, Bath, & Beyond – 8.57%
  2. Rite Aid – 8.1%
  3. Tuesday Morning – 5.63%
  4. CVS – 4.34%
  5. Sears – 3.64%
BetMGM
BetMGM
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A lot of former Petco, Marshall's, and Buy Buy Baby stores in the Midwest, and more specifically the Chicago area, also turn into Spirit Halloweens.

This is a heads-up for next year. If you see any other of the stores in the graphic above close in our area or really anywhere, plan for a Spirit Halloween to be opening October 1st, 2025.

Quad Cities Pumpkin Patches

It's pumpkin pickin' time in the Quad Cities. Pumpkins make great fall decorations and they are obviously fun to carve. If buying a pumpkin at a store doesn't cut it and you want the full experience of a pumpkin patch, we have the full list of pumpkin patches throughout the Quad Cities. If we are missing any local pumpkin patches, email us here.

Gallery Credit: Connor Kenney/Townsquare Media Quad Cities

Quad Cities Haunted Houses

Spooky season is here Quad Cities! Haunted houses are open and we know you want to get your scare on. We have the full list of Quad City haunted houses you need to visit before Halloween.

Gallery Credit: Connor Kenney/Townsquare Media Quad Cities

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