Spirit Halloween has plans to transition from spooky-ooky to holly jolly!
The pop-up retail chain, which is popping up in storefronts across the country in September and October, will stay longer than usual this year. the company confirms to PEOPLE.
Ten Christmas Spirit stores will open across the Northeast, with some taking over the current Spirit Halloweens and others opening in new locations, where instead of the store’s typical cloaked skeleton mascot, guests will be greeted by a giant winking Santa Claus.
A real version of the Christmas icon will also be available to meet and take photos inside.
“Each store offers a unique shopping experience, filled with a wide assortment of holiday decor, apparel, inflatables, gifts and stockings,” a Spirit Halloween spokesperson told PEOPLE about the new pop-ups.
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“Guests can meet Santa for their annual Christmas card photo and receive a free digital postcard featuring you and Santa,” the spokesperson continued. “Walk through a life-size gingerbread village, where you can send a letter to Santa at the North Pole and find out if you’ve been naughty or nice.”
The official Spirit Christmas site also teases what the free Santa pictures — which are already available to book — will look like, showing the family posing with the big guy as they sit among giant presents and gingerbread houses.
Spirit’s first Christmas store in Mays Landing, New Jersey, is set to open its doors on October 18, while the other nine locations are slated to open in early November.
Several more holiday malls will open in New Jersey, with locations opening in Marlton, Brick and Woodbridge. In New York, the Spirit Christmas pop-up will also open in Albany, Bohemia and Poughkeepsie.
Locations are also planned to open in Erie, Pennsylvania; Waterford, Connecticut and Dartmouth, Massachusetts. All pop-ups will remain open during the holiday season.
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News of Spirit’s Halloween Christmas pop-ups comes on the heels of making headlines with Saturday night live.
After the live show’s 50th season premiere included a Ghost Halloween skit — an advertising parody that poked fun at the chain and its short-lived nature — the retailer responded on social media.
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Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty
On September 30, two days after the parody first aired, the chain responded by posting on X (formerly known as Twitter) tagging the show’s official account.
“We’re great at raising things from the dead @nbcsnl,” Spirit Halloween wrote alongside the Spirit Halloween meme SNL a costume called “an irrelevant 50-year-old TV show.”
Adding to the burn was the fake costume’s content, which included “old references”, “unknown cast members” and “declining ratings”.
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Source: HIS Education