At Rubie's Costume Company, Every Day Is Halloween
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - At Rubie's Costume Company, every day is Halloween.
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"We're developing costumes 365 days a year," president Marc Beige said.
Rubie's has been in his family since it first opened in 1960. Today, there are multiple locations on Long Island and in Queens, and they deliver worldwide.
"Halloween has dramatically changed over the forty or fifty years that I've been associated with the company," he said. "When I was a kid, Halloween was mostly a holiday for little children, a trick-or-treat holiday."
But nowadays, things have changed. Halloween has transitioned from an outdoor to an indoor holiday, Beige says, with house parties becoming the main event.
While the biggest retail days for Rubie's are the day before Halloween and Halloween itself, the design department is busy all year long.
"We started the 2020 line in December of 2018," said global design director Joe Petrollese.
He and his team sketch ideas and sew samples in a studio hidden behind the Westbury flagship store.
For inspiration, Petrollese and his team keep a close eye on trends in fashion and film. But certain costumes are timeless.
"Witches always trend in, like, the top three," Petrollese said.
Beginning around Labor Day, customers flock to Rubie's, eager to get a head start on the holiday.
For Beige, a love of Halloween makes sense.
"People like to be scared but, obviously, in a safe way," he said. "Halloween is all about that."
Halloween also gives us the chance to try out a new identity.
"It's a day that you can be what you're not the other 364 days of the year."
Rubie's Costume Company – Westbury Flagship Store
603 Cantiague Rock Road
Westbury, NY 11590
(516) 500-9330
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