Cubs Stealing A Little Thunder From Halloween This Year
(CBS) – The Cubs are proving to be big business for bars and souvenir stores as they continue their championship chase, but it's causing a cash crunch for others.
During games, fans stay home and that's not good.
CBS 2's Vince Gerasole reports.
Halloween is time for haunted happenings, but the Cubs may be scaring away customers from some seasonal businesses.
Fantasy Costumes never has to scare up business at Halloween time. The store is experiencing its own October surprise.
"We'll see a rush up to the beginning of the Cubs game and then all of a sudden you'll know, it's like, oh, is it 7 o'clock? Because it's almost like a ghost town," Cathy Bunger says.
The thrills and chills at House of Torment are big business. Nearly 200 actors and artists are employed by the Morton Grove haunted attraction each October.
"It does, of course, have an impact on the amount of people coming through the doors," Bryan Koop says.
Not all customers are running away; they're just changing their schedules.
"The parking lot starts filling up out of nowhere. It's like, oh, the Cubs game must be over. Great. Let's get ready," Koop says.
In spite of some unexpected downtime in their stores, these business owners say the Cubs not making the World Series would be more frightening.