The Halloween countdown is underway, and some stores are already getting in on the spooky season!

Fall is my favorite time of year because of Halloween, my favorite 'holiday' and one of my favorite days of the year. I start decorating around mid-August (though I'd start on July 5 if my wife would let me) and ramping up on horror movies, fiction, and anything else that puts me in the Halloween spirit! Halloween gives everyone the chance to be a kid again, dressing up in costumes, scaring other people (and being scared!), watching scary movies and telling scary stories, and eating lots of free candy! What's not to love?

Lots of people seem to groan (or is it moan?) that Halloween decorations are out in some stores. I'm thrilled and can't wait for the full Halloween deluge to begin! There are only 83 left until Halloween is here, after all!

Target has opened its online Halloween store for those who want a preview of Target's Halloween offerings, and Party City has opened its Halloween online store as well. There's still no word as to when or where Party City's Halloween City store will open, though it was in the old Marshall's on Ambassador last year.

Michael's has had their Halloween decor out for a few weeks now, and local dollar stores also have some merch out and ready for sale.

Meanwhile, the store I look forward to visiting on the first day it opens each year, Spirit Halloween, will again open two locations in Lafayette. A Spirit Halloween representative told me that Spirit Halloween at 4405 Ambassador Caffery Parkway (probably the old World Market again) will open on August 23, and the now - regular location at 4525 Johnston Street (Bon Marche shopping center) will open on August 30.

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