Northwood Rentals Offers Bewitching Selection
Alter egos, line up at the door.
Northwood Rentals, located at 3800 N. 53 West in Hyde Park, rents, as well as sells, Halloween costumes and props starting at $10 with a variety that owner Alan Elder said you won’t find anywhere locally.
“You would probably have to go to Salt Lake for this kind of selection,” Alan Elder said.
The large warehouse, which also holds the outdoor tools and wedding reception decorations that Northwood Rentals rents, has a room in the back that is packed with Halloween costumes and has everything from classic theme costumes to character costumes for both adults and children.
“There’s a big Halloween costume trade show in Chicago every year,” Alan Elder said, “and every person who has anything to do with Halloween is there. We all buy from the same people as everyone else who sells costumes.”
Alan Elder, who opened Northwood Rentals eight years ago with his wife, Linda, said the process of picking which costumes they buy is a process of trial and error. Since they often get to see costumes from movie characters before the movie is even out, Alan Elder said sometimes they have to make the decision whether or not it will be a hit.
“About 80 percent of the time we’ve made good decisions,” Alan Elder said.
Alan Elder said that in a given day they see both families and students coming to Northwood Rentals. He also said they see about an equal amount of customers both buying and renting costumes.
“I love the batman costume,” said Charles Womack, senior majoring in history, as he tried on the costume, complete with a batman mask and cape. “I would buy it.”
Northwood rentals began renting landscaping and outdoor tools, but Alan Elder said they decided to begin selling Halloween costumes due to the fact that his three daughters had already begun stockpiling costumes throughout the years.
“We had some calls from people wanting to rent costumes,” said Alan Elder, “and we already had some on hand, so we started renting them out.”
Alan Elder said during the Halloween season, Northwood Rentals rents out anywhere between 300-400 costumes and has even more people coming in just to look.
“One day we had over 60 cars in the parking lot at once,” Alan Elder said. “It’s too many to really get a head count.”
Northwood Rental’s popularity has grown mostly due to word of mouth, Alan Elder said. The company, he said, is also running ads on the radio, which has been effective.
Linda Elder said even though they get large crowds, there are plenty of costumes to go around. In addition to costumes, Northwood Rentals also sells a wide variety of Halloween props including wigs, masks, makeup and even genuine light sabers that rent for around $40.
“They’re the type they used right in the movie,” Alan Elder said. “It makes the sound when you move.”
Even though they see big crowds during Halloween, Alan Elder said the costume shop is open year-round for rentals and that they see a lot of business from drama clubs.
Alan Elder said his favorite part of working during the busy Halloween season, though, is the atmosphere.
“You get people coming in in a party mode,” Alan Elder said.
Linda Elder said Northwood Rentals is now accepting reservations and even though they have been busy, there are still about 3,000 costumes left, with their selection growing every day.
“We are still getting in costumes that we ordered months ago,” Linda Elder said.
In order to make a reservation, Linda Elder said a 50 percent deposit is required at the time of the reservation and they will put a tag on it until it is picked up. Linda Elder said the costumes are rented out on a one-evening basis, so after picking the costume up, renters have about 12 hours before it needs to be returned.
“I think the costumes are awesome,” said Jocelyn Berlage, junior majoring in history.
For more information and to view the costumes available at Northwood Rentals, visit their Web site at www.northwoodrentalsonline.com or call 563-8008.
-amanda.m@aggiemail.usu.edu
NORTHWOOD RENTALS RENT 300-400 costumes during Halloween season. Costumes are rented on a one-evening basis. (Patrick Oden)