Star Costume is one of the last of its kind. As the old guard of family-owned costume shops have slowly closed around Las Vegas, one shop carries on. Star Costume and Theatrical Supply has been outfitting the Las Vegas community for about 40 years, and Marc Salls has owned Star for 22 years.
Don’t expect Star Costume to close anytime soon. The family-owned business is going strong and Salls has no immediate plans to retire. “We’re having a good year and things are going well,” Salls says. “Business didn’t pick up like we thought it would when HalloweenMart closed, but we’ve still had a good year.”
How does it feel to run a costume shop for so long?
We’re excited because we’ve always had our niche in the marketplace. We’re successfully able to do a good job for people.
What do you predict will be the hottest costumes of 2018?
On the women’s side: First, Wonder Woman. Second, the Harley Quinn character from comics. Those characters are significant. Empowered women is going to be big. Less of a princess, more of women being able to do anything they want to do. It’s exciting to see. Everybody thought they could only be a princess.
Star Costume & Theatrical Supply
3230 S. Valley View Blvd #120, (702) 731-5014, starcostumelv.com.
For men, I’m seeing a lot of activity in the Steampunk area — Victorian with an "Interview with a Vampire" [vibe]. Superheroes is going to be strong: Thor and Batman. But it’s not one of those years [where one character will] blow everybody out of the market.
The midterm elections are happening right after Halloween. Will political costumes be big this year?
We will have activity there, but people don’t want others beating them up because they’re dressed in one character or other. We still have political figure face [masks]. But midterms don’t see a big rise, not like presidential election time.
Do you have any tips for people who want to put together a unique costume?
The nice part of what we do is that we’re diverse; we’re not like the pop-up shops. We have some of the smaller brands that are not in the pop-ups. We also have a lot of create-your-own pieces, which you can put together and be unique. You can have you own kind of costume that 50,000 [of which] weren’t made.
What do you recommend for children’s or budget costumes?
We offer costumes to rent or buy. Our [price range] is midrange to high; we do not have a low range. We cater to teens and adults. Children’s costumes can be bought in Target, Walmart, Kmart — they do a good job.
Of all the businesses out there, why run a costume shop?
I bought it for my cousin to run it, and it’s grown from 1,100 square feet to about 12,000 today. I had to get actively involved in, as my wife calls it, an expensive hobby. [My cousin] runs the rental department. I’ve learned how to buy [Halloween costumes], which is harder than gambling. You have to pick in January what you think will be the hot thing for October. Even though we get previews and movies, you still miss it sometimes. When "Frozen" came out, nobody knew there would be such a demand. With Wonder Woman, we knew early.
What will you wear for Halloween this year?
I’m feeling the Swashbuckler side this year. That’s an area that’s getting real activity. The pirate side.