The Halloween Returns Desk, High Street (31 October 2026 – 1 November 2026)
Opened at midnight to take back used costumes. Closed at 9am, buried in bin bags and fake blood.
A pile of Halloween costumes, all 'barely worn'. Photo: Matthew T Rader, “People in Halloween Costumes”, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Halloween Returns Desk, a pop-up shop on Perth High Street that offered to take back unwanted Halloween costumes, has closed after nine hours.
The shop opened at one minute past midnight on 1 November, with a sign reading “Returns Welcome”. By 2am, the queue was out the door. By 9am, staff could no longer find the door.
“We expected a few witches’ hats and a couple of capes,” said the manager. “We got 300 bin bags, 74 sheets with eyeholes, a vampire cape that had been used as a picnic blanket, and a man who wanted to return his child.”
Most of the costumes were described by customers as “hardly worn”. Staff disputed this. “One skeleton outfit had gravy on it,” said an assistant. “Skeletons don’t eat gravy. They don’t have stomachs.”
The shop has now closed. The manager said he would try again next year “with a bigger room and a stronger nose”.
The Halloween Returns Desk is survived by 74 sheets, which have been donated to the Perthetic’s Weather Correspondent for drying practice.
The real story: Perth and Kinross news (The Courier)
Letters to the Editor
The views expressed are those of the reader, and frankly that's on them.
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I tried to return a pumpkin costume that had been at a party. They said no. Fair enough.
— Kenny W., Bridgend, 1 November 2026 -
Nine hours is still longer than my diet lasted.
— Aileen S., Scone, 1 November 2026
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