Free Pirate Sword - Coupon

Friday, September 19, 2015 is International "Talk Like a Pirate Day".  Many groups and businesses are finding all kinds of fun ways to celebrate this ever growing holiday.  Krispy Kreme Donuts will be giving away free donuts to people who talk like a pirate on that day.  If you dress in a costume you can get a full dozen! (See KrispyKream.com for details)

Beauty and the Beast Costumes, Chattanooga had been planning on running a Pirates VS Ninjas promotion for this Halloween season with free swords to match your costumes.  However, with "Talk Like a Pirate Day" just around the corner, we thought it might be nice to start the Pirate side a little early!

Just print out the above coupon, or show it to the cashier on your mobile devise when you check out.  You'll get one free pirate sword, a $2.50 value with each pirate costume or set of accessories totaling $15 or more.  Pirate shirts or costumes may be adult or child sized.  Costumes from the Clearance sections DO COUNT, but must be pirates.  Accessories may include pirate or tricorn hats, boot tops, bandanas, eye patches, parrots, shoe buckles, gold coins, hoop earrings, striped socks, pirate tights, toy pirate pistol or other pirate swords.  Accessories may be used to bring costumes priced less than $15 up to the minimum, or as the costume itself.  (Example:  $25 Pirate costume = Free Sword.  $18 Pirate shirt  = Free Sword.  $13 Pirate hat Plus $6 Red & White striped socks  = Free Sword.) 

Limit One Free sword per costume or set of accessories up to 5 free swords per customer.


Arrr!  Now get your booty over to Dayton Blvd. before all the goodies are gone.

Why You Can't Find Frozen Costumes

Why you can't find Frozen Costumes

It's Economics 101.  Big chain stores kill the market for popular costumes.  Chain stores, like K-Mart, Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, Party City and others, have huge buying power because they buy thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) of copies of the most popular costumes and send them across the country to all their locations.  They get the lowest possible price per unit and they get their shipments first.  So, by the time the costumes reach the independent retailer, the consumer base already has that low price point ingrained in their price conscious psyche.

According to Walmart, Inc., they have about 4,000 locations in the USA alone, plus abroad.  If you estimate that each store could sell at least 24 pieces of a hot movie costume, which I'm sure would be on the low end for most locations, that would be a minimum purchase of almost 100,000 units.  Now, let's count in all those other chain stores and pop up stores that also carry costumes.  The numbers start to become staggering, don't they?

A small, independent store like Beauty and the Beast Costumes, Chattanooga could only hope to sell about 12 units of any one costume in a single season.  So, let's say that you are a manufacturer for the Disney Corporation and you make the costume for that hot movie of the year.  You have Walmart who is going to purchase costumes, quite literally by the boat load, and all you have to do is put the full containers on the dock.  Walmart will pick those containers up and put them on their own trucks and do all the distributing across the country.  Then you have all those other chain stores who will be doing pretty much the same thing, just on a slightly smaller scale.  Finally, you have thousands of little Mom & Pop stores all across the country who want 3 to 12 units each of a whole bunch of different costumes.  You will have to send one container of costumes to your own distribution center, have your people pull and pack all the orders and send them out via UPS to all those little shops.  Which customer is going to get the best price, biggest discounts and fastest service?  The guy who bought 100K each of each costume or the guy who bought 12 of each?

There is also one more little twist in the price wars for Halloween dollars.  Chain stores like Walmart and Party City want to get the customer in the door to buy other items.  They can sell a popular costume very close to their cost, which was much lower than Mom & Pop's cost, to persuade people to buy other things while they are there.  It's called a "Loss Leader".  The store intentionally sells the costume for less than it paid, but they have very high mark ups on candy, party supplies, decorations, accessories, etc.  They take a loss on the costume, knowing it will bring you into the store, and then make up for it with higher markup items like the candy and decorations.

Now you are the parent who's daughter is crying for a Frozen Elsa or a son who just discovered Ninja Turtles decades after you thought that was over.  You only have limited resources of your own so you're going to look for the best price on what your children want.  Slick ads are all over the TV and in the mail touting "Costumes starting at $9.95!"  They show you pictures of sparkling Elsa and muscled Heroes with full masks, but when you arrive at the store, those costumes are actually priced $25 to $30 and you pick up the phone to try to find it at a better cost.  That's normal!  It's what parents DO.

Then you, the parent, call an independent costume shop.  We don't have that one costume, the shipment hasn't come in yet.  We have tons of other items, that are NOT at those chain stores, but still, you think "They don't have THAT?  Gees!  They don't have ANYTHING!"  Or worse, when you call, we do have what you want, but the price is much higher than at the chain store.  You think "Holy Cow!  They sure are expensive!"  Either way, you vow to never darken the door of a small business.  Sadly, you'll never know that Mom & Pop stores like Beauty and the Beast Costumes, Chattanooga have tons of other items that are frequently priced within a dollar or two of the chain stores, or even LOWER on many accessories.

So what is the moral of the story?  If you think your child MIGHT want one of the 12 most popular costumes of the season, JUMP ON IT at the chain store during the Halloween season because after November 1st, those costumes will not be available for your birthday party, trip to Disney World or school function.  Those pop up stores will be gone.  The department stores will cut back to only toddler sized princess dresses in the toy department.  Real costume shops who are open for you all year long won't have them because our wholesale prices are to close to the chain store retail price.

Facts!  
In 2002, when Tobey Maguire played Spiderman in the block buster movie, the wholesale price directly from Disguise, Inc. was $13.50 per unit.  The exact same costume was at Walmart for $9.95.  When the buyer for Beauty and the Beast Costumes, Chattanooga called her sales representative to complain, she was told, quote:  "I suggest that you go to Walmart and buy all they have.  Then the customers will have to come to you."  We didn't do that.

The wholesale price of a child sized Elsa Costume to an independent store is over $20.   Beauty and the Beast Costumes has canceled our orders.  We are sorry for the inconvenience to our customers, but we can not sell at cost.

If you and your children do NOT want to wear the same costume that everyone else on the block is wearing, please check us out.  You will be pleasantly surprised at the vast amount of costumes and accessories that we stock and thrilled with our low prices on make up, wigs, hats, toy weapons and other accessories.

Knock Off Better than Licensed!

In the world of high fashion, the name brand is always better, right?  That's not always true when it comes to Costumes!  One of the hardest parts of my job at Beauty and the Beast Costumes, Chattanooga, is to explain to people that quite frequently, the "Look-a-like" or "Kock off" is actually the better product.

Working on new costumes for the stage musical Grease, Jr., I'm reminded of how many customers Pooh-Poohed our inventory of "Look-a-Like" Pink Ladies and T-Birds costumes.  They all insisted that they only wanted the "REAL" licensed product.  Naturally, trying to give my customers what they wanted, I ordered  a large number of the Pony Express brand, licensed Grease costumes as soon as I saw them become available from one of my regular suppliers, Fun World.   The Grease Pink Ladies costume package is shown above on the left. 

At the same time, Fun World, Inc. also carried a "look a like" costume called "T-Bird Sweetie"  which was less expensive, and featured a bright pink jacket with black sequin trim.  It is shown on the right of the photo above.  Both outfits sold for about $35.

Last year, due to overwhelming demand, Fun World stepped up to the plate offering the new "50's Ladies' Jacket"by itself without additional pieces for a more price conscious audience.  This jacket was intended to be worn with other items from the Fun World 50's line or with items from other sources.

Now, let's do a side by side comparison! Click any of these photos for the larger image to see the details discussed. 

Above, Left is the Grease branded jacket.  You can tell by the GREASE logo prominently printed on the chest.  This jacket has a number of issues.  The light pink fabric is so thin, you can see through it.  The collar only has fabric on one side.  The reverse is only white interfacing so you can't Pop the color without the white side showing.  The opening edges have zipper teeth, but no zipper pull, so it won't close.  The collar, cuff and tail of the jacket are not finished.  They are only serged off.

Above Right is the T-Bird Sweetie jacket.  It is a heavier, fuchsia satin.  The collar, cuffs and waist ban are all black sequin fabric which has been properly turned and finished.  The front zipper is fairly heavy and functions.

The 50's Ladies's Jacket is a light weight satin in baby pink.  The collar, cuff and waist band are all ribbed cotton knit, much like a normal fashion jacket might have.  The black zipper functions and is even set in satin to the bottom edge for ease of use.

The Grease jacket (above, left) does say "Pink Ladies" on the back, but it's not the same font as what was used in the film.  The T-Bird Sweetie jacket (above, right) also says "Pink Ladies", but the print has a hint of glitter to better match the trim.

The only major issue with the 50's Ladies jacket is that it does not say "Pink Ladies" on the back.  It only announces it's own name.  As it is only the jacket, it will not be included in the 'costume' comparison.

The Grease costume does have more pieces than the other costume.  It includes a shirt, pants, scarf and belt.  It's nice that they provide a see through shirt to go under the jacket that won't close.  To bad they didn't finish any of the edges, like the jacket, all edges are just serged.  Keeping in line with that fashion faux pas, the triangle of fabric scarf and the pants are also unfinished.  The waist line of the pants is just a thin piece of elastic caught in the serging.  The belt is a sad little piece of white vinyl with a matching one ply vinyl 'buckle' decoration.


The T-Bird Sweetie costume doesn't waist your time with a white t-shirt and worthless belt.  You get two extra pieces, but at least they are of a quality you might want to wear out of the house.  The pants have an actual waist band encasing elastic wide enough to function.  The cuffs have been serged, then turned up and sewn in place.  The scarf is double sided, with the seams properly turned inside.


Now, would you rather pay the same price for a crappy costume just because it's a name brand?  Or would you like to have an outfit you can be proud to be seen in for about the same price?

Yeah, everyone else thought the same.  That's why the sad branded one is in the Clearance.

They are coming to get you, Barbara!

Loyal Beauty and the Beast customer, long time partner in haunted crime, Mad Doctor in training, prop / set builder, neighbor and dear friend, John B. Johnson is now coming into his own as a Make Up Artist!  He has just returned from his first professional gig with TV's hit show "The Walking Dead."   (More information about that when I find out what I can that is NOT in violation of his gag order.)

John has always loved dressing up to scare people.  In fact, he had a brief appearance as a zombie in the 1983 classic movie "Day of the Dead".    While we officially met at Chattacon  our best days together were always working in the trenches of charity haunts including Jeff Colbert's "The House" at Eastgate mall and "The Little House of Horrors" in Red Bank.  These days, he is most often seen by area residents at Lake WinnepeSPOOKah. 

So how did our friend who only recently started dabbling in make up end up working for "The Walking Dead"?   He's been doing a lot of "Blow and Go" make ups for the Chattanooga Zombie Walk and Zombie Run events.  He got enough good reviews to get noticed. 

As you may have guessed, when TWD has very large groups of zombies for a shot, Greg Nicotero's team needs help getting all those people processed.  They have several levels of zombie make up, naturally, the close ups and special effects zombies get the star treatment from Nicotero and his expert team.  Then they have the foreground, middle and background zombies who don't need to be as detailed.... even less so as they move back in the pack.  After proving that he could do decent work FAST, John got the call.  Apparently, he impressed someone at the interview as he was called down to do a featured make up. 

As John has just returned from his gig and hasn't quite come down from geeking out over being on set, I'll get more information later, but for now, I'll leave you with some of the shots of his Zombie Walk work that got him noticed.

The above make up work was done by John B. Johnson using make up and appliances purchased from  Beauty and the Beast Costumes, Chattanooga.

You're the One that I Want!

Guess what our summer project is?

Our favorite school has confirmed, they are doing "GREASE" next spring.  Beauty and the Beast Costumes, Chattanooga is finally biting the bullet and stock piling fabrics and patterns for 1950's styled dresses and skirts.  So cuff your bobby sox and slick back that pompadour, it's time to hit the dance floor. 

Don't forget, all those fun 50's fashions are also great for "Bye Bye Birdie".  I just hope we have time to get them all done!

Web Site Issues

Currently,  Beauty and the Beast Costumes is trying to get a website up and running by the start of the next school year.  Let me tell you, it's a lot harder now than it was when I built my first homepage back in the late 80's.  Jumping back into it is kind of like saying "Sure!  I can ride a bike."  Meaning that I used to peddle around the neighborhood on a bike with a banana seat and tassels on the handle bars, and I looked pretty darned snazzy doing it!  Now it feels like everyone expects me to ride a big old Harley down the free way weaving in and out of Mac Trucks.

                                                   DOES NOT EQUAL

After spending a couple of weeks banging my head against the wall fighting with the "alleged" WTYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) Drag and Drop interfaces both here on this blog and on GoDaddy's website builder, I'm throwing in the towel.  I've called in the cavalry to help me build my frame work.  As an old Advertising Arts major, I kind of know what I want, I just don't seem to be able to make it happen.  Luckily, I have some amazing friends who are going to try to make that happen.

My dear friend sat down with me and showed me some of his work.  My website might not be as slick and fancy as some major corporation's million dollar site, but that's ok.  The price is right and there aren't a lot of website builders who barter for costumes in this world.  And as long as it FUNCTIONS correctly, I can work on that face lift later.  The upside is that GoDaddy supports both Drupal and WordPress, the two most suggested builders.

The main focus points for the website are:

• Promote Beauty and the Beast Costumes (Duh!  Isn't that what all company websites are for?)
• Provide a visual reference for my rental stock.
• Explain the scope of our retail variety.
• Show support of our local community.  (We do a lot more than you know about!)
• HAVE FUN!!!!  Because what's the point of having a costume shop if it's not fun?

The first thing we need to do is provide photos of what is truly unique about Beauty and the Beast Costumes - and that is our hand made, on site Rental Stock.  Our website needs to contain and manage an image data base so that people can find what they are looking for... or at least get a better idea of what we have.  Our rental stock doesn't really change that much over time.  We constantly add more, but we don't "sell out" or "discontinue" items like we do in the retail departments.

So, while my Web Team is working on getting the site to function, I've been taking and processing photos.  When we get everything up and running correctly, then we'll work on tweeking the 'look' of the page.  HOPEFULLY - we'll get that much done before the end of summer.  I would love to get FUN stuff going before Halloween.... Like Coupons, Give Aways, Contests, etc.  But let's go one step at a time, otherwise, it's going to be like putting chrome exhaust pipes on my little pink bike.

4th of July

Patriotic fun for all!  

While most people think of Beauty and the Beast Costumes, Chattanooga when they need a full Uncle Sam costume, they might not think of us for other items as well.   Like wigs in Red, White and Blue tri color, and Red or Blue solid colors for $6 - $7.

Make up or colored hair spray from $1.25 to $2.50

Beauty and the Beast has adult sized Uncle Sam costumes for $35 rental.  We also have some for sale in either Standard or Plus sized adult sizes.  Child sized patriotic costumes from $20-$40 including Uncle Sam, Betsy Ross and founding fathers.

Or maybe you would like to start your own holiday traditions with 2nd Skin body suits in solid red or blue for just $35 each.  Tall Uncle Sam hats are $10-$15 each.