BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:

Once again, it’s time to think about how many pumpkins will be bought, how the house decorations will look, and what costumes kids will want to dress up in this year.

Halloween Adventure, at 401 N. 1st St. in Burbank, is the latest incarnation of the Halloween stores that pop up every year. This branch of Halloween Adventure, which has moved into the former Circuit City building, is back in Burbank after a five-year absence, according to President and Chief Executive Lenny Goldman.

Up to about five years ago, Halloween Adventure sold its wares in the Burbank Town Center, but the store’s management wanted an ideal outdoor location, Goldman said. Their search came up empty-handed. Meanwhile, the company operated stores in Simi Valley, Granada Hills and Santa Clarita.

“We found locations that were available, but not to the expectations that we felt that we needed,” Goldman said.

The 12,000-square-foot store opened in late August. Even though the store is considered a Halloween “superstore,” not all of the former electronics store is occupied, store Manager Ryan Goldman said.

Depending on how the Burbank store performs, Lenny Goldman said, the location might become permanent. But the chances of that occurring are slim, given the company’s formula of opening their stores around the time when business will be at its peak, he added.

“Halloween — you purchase in September and October,” Lenny Goldman said. “It makes sense to us to do it in our main store because the space is already there. We’re not paying extra rent for it. It’s part of the whole building that we have.”

Not having year-round stores all over town also saves money, he said. The company would have to pay rent on each year-round store it owns, he says. Halloween Adventure has a year-round store at its headquarters in Canoga Park, where the company maintains warehouses and offices.

While the Burbank store is not a year-round store, Ryan said those stores survive outside of Halloween because people are always looking for costumes, whether for parties, Renaissance fairs and movie shoots or anything else.

Brothers Bruce and Darron Goldman started Halloween Adventure in Philadelphia and New York City in 1985. The next year, stores opened in California with an all-encompassing “giant” headquarters in Canoga Park, Ryan Goldman said. Halloween Adventure has 20 stores in Southern California.

The stores specialize in Halloween costumes, wigs and outfits of all kinds. If the store does not have what the customer is looking for, Ryan Goldman said, they will make it.

“The key is to be very well-rounded in terms of the merchandise we carry,” he said.