13 Independent Businesses We’re Shopping This Spooky Season
Don’t mind us, we’re busy dimming the lights, carving pumpkins, streaming Beetlejuice, and playing John Carpenter's Halloween music on repeat.
There’s something creepy, haunting, and mysterious about this time of year that gets us feeling magical in all the right ways. To summon the seasonal spirit, we’ve rounded up 13 spooktacular products (all treats, no tricks) from independent businesses that we’re loving—and shopping—this Halloween season.
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"Sweet Raven" Princess Dress from Bailey & Ava
Who said princess dresses need to be bright and colorful? This handmade Gothic princess dress commands a grand entrance. It features black lace and cascading layers of soft tulle, high-quality fabrics, and trim.
Laurena was tired of buying her girls low-quality costume dresses, so she started making her own. When others took notice of her creations, orders started pouring in and Bailey & Ava was born (inspired and aptly named after Laurena’s daughters who love to play dress up). For every dress sold, the Brooklyn-based business donates a portion of the proceeds to an organization that helps girls and women in need.
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Annabel Lee Candle from The Smell of Fear
“In the sepulchre there by the sea—In her tomb by the sounding sea."
Surround yourself with the essence of sea salt and a hint of bergamot with this hauntingly beautiful candle from The Smell of Fear’s Essence of Poe line. The candle is inspired by Annabel Lee, Edgar Allen Poe’s last complete poem. It's made from a paraffin-free, sustainably sourced coconut-soy wax blend—the dreadfully best choice for a great-smelling, long-lasting, clean-burning candle.
The Smell of Fear is a wicked, one-woman small business run by Jillian: English lecturer by day, horror fiend by night, and inspired candlemaker in between. Jillian hand-pours all her literature and horror-inspired creations from her Buffalo, NY home. She currently boasts 100+ candles in the store’s ever-growing collection. Some staples, like the Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King-inspired collections, are available year-round. Additional selections vary monthly based on changing themes.
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Design Your Own Custom-Made Casket from Titan Casket
Okay, so not everyone is ready to plan for their own funeral just yet. But how spooky would it be to have one of these on your porch during haunting season?!
Customize everything from exterior colors (over 20 to choose from), interior fabric, hardware, and steel type. The process is simple: choose the product type and any desired customization, and Titan Casket will deliver it to the funeral home (or residential address) of your choice. Caskets are conveniently shipped within 24-48 hours.
Titan Casket is a small, independent operation with the mission of offering affordability and transparency in the funeral industry. The founders of Titan Casket knew little about the industry in 2016, and they found the process of planning a funeral overwhelming, frustrating, and exceedingly expensive. Today, they are disrupting it by circumventing traditional channels, designing caskets in-house, and selling directly to customers instead of funeral homes.
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The Witch Is In Doormat from Coco & Bass
Hey Halloween lovers, we found you the perfect doormat!
Did you know? Halloween welcome mats rank #1 on the list of Halloween decor purchases on Shopify so far, with 3,820% purchase growth from July to August. Trick-or-treating may have been put on the back burner in 2020, but this year homeowners are more excited than ever to welcome eager candy collectors to their front doors.
Coco & Bass doormats are the perfect way to personalize a front entrance. They are handmade by Robin Ebanks in Calgary, Canada. The doormats are made of 100% natural coconut fibre extracted from the husk of a coconut and are finished with a rubber backing for a non-slip feature. Have something more particular in mind? Coco & Bass accepts custom designs too!
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The Nightmare Before Christmas Tarot from DragonSpace
Let the spooky citizens of Halloween Town guide your tarot practice with this sumptuously illustrated tarot deck inspired by Tim Burton’s classic animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas.
DragonSpace is a unique gift store that has made its home on Vancouver's beautiful Granville Island for over 30 years. If you happen to shop there in person, you’ll notice the store’s arched wooden doors leading to a world of myth and magic that lies behind them. The store features an ever-changing selection of fantasy-inspired books, giftware, jewelry, clothing, art, and more.
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Custom Hair Lock Keepsake Pendant from Valenwood Vixen
Spooky season or not, this keepsake necklace makes a perfect memento for the sentimental person in your life. Made to order, these jewelry pieces encapsulate a lock of hair (or fur) from a loved one in resin material and come strung upon a sterling silver necklace chain.
Valenwood Vixen is a small, independent artist-run shop that has operated since 2014. Only the best quality UV-blocking resin is used for the pieces, ensuring the jewelry will not yellow or cloud with age or sun exposure. The sterling pieces are crafted by flame and hand-polished to perfection.
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Great Horned Owl Skull Replica from Skulls Unlimited
Who knew the skull of an owl could ride the line between cute and creepy so well?! Known for its signature large eyes (hello, night vision 👀🔍), this nocturnal hunter’s skull replica is the perfect shelf accessory for a spooky yet chic decor touch.
If you’re perusing Skulls Unlimited, you’ll find more than 500 skeleton replicas of rare or endangered species. You’ll also come across some pretty cool real bone specimens like this sloth skeleton and human spine (always legally and ethically obtained).
At seven-years-old, Jay Villemarette was obsessed with the dog skull he found in the woods near his home, so he started finding—and keeping—more. As he grew, so did his newly found skull collection hobby. In 1986, Joe and his wife Kim turned this unusual pastime into a specimen supply business from their kitchen.
Their collection grew, and so did local and worldwide enthusiasm. They went from a small home-based business to a world-renowned one, officially incorporating as Skulls Unlimited International Inc. in 1992.
Today, their company has earned a reputation with some of the most prestigious global museums and educational facilities for having the best quality and the largest variety of osteological specimens. Not only does Skulls Unlimited buy hundreds of skulls and skeletons from private individuals and institutions every year (got one? Send it in), they also offer skull cleaning services and have opened a Skeletons Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma, OH.
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Unicorn Candle from 54Celsius
Who says unicorns aren’t real? This gorgeous candle—available in lilac, black, or white—burns down to reveal a unicorn skeleton below. Just the right combination of whimsical and creepy. Plus, with a burn time of 16 hours, you can keep this beauty blazing throughout your entire Halloween.
54Celsius says they “didn’t think candles had to be boring,” and if you scroll through their other products you’ll see what they mean. The unicorn candle was designed by Thorunn Arnadottir, 54Celsius’s Icelandic co-founder and creative director.
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Seasoned Bugs from Eat Crawlers
If the thought of eating insects makes your skin crawl, then perhaps this isn’t the product for you. But if you’re feeling adventurous and on the lookout for new protein sources… we’ve got a pretty good solution for you. Eat Crawler sells a three-pack of their lightly seasoned insects including Teriyaki Meal Worms, Peri Peri Crickets, and Barbeque Grasshoppers. Just imagine the crunch-factor!
Eat Crawlers claims to be New Zealand’s first and largest edible bug company. They donate 1% of their profits to environmentally-conscious charities—so even if eating bugs makes you feel a bit creepy-crawly, you can feel warm and fuzzy about the good you’re doing with your purchase!
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Leatherface Plush Cushion from Creepy Company
You know that moment when you see something scary out of the corner of your eye and freak out before realizing it’s nothing but an inanimate object? Imagine this x10 with this Leatherface pillow. Sure, some people might only want to keep it out around Halloween, but think of the spooktastic possibilities year-round!
Speaking of making that creepy feeling last all year long, that’s exactly why Creepy Company was founded. This Chicago-based company works on their scary gear 12 months a year, and they do it all for their fellow “Creeps,” as they endearingly refer to themselves.
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Skeleton Boobs Sweater from MurderApparel
Perhaps this company’s product description says it best: “Skeleton boobs are the best boobs.” This unisex, pre-shrunk, cotton/polyester-blend crew neck sweater comes in sizes up to 4XL for all the spook season fans in your life.
MurderApparel comes from a one-man team named Aaron who loves true crime, horror movies, and the color black. His fave horror movie: The Witches (1990). Fave true crime podcast: Morbid Podcast (“duh,” he says). Fave true crime documentary: The Keepers (Netflix).
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Zombie Fangs from Dental Distortions
There are (at least) two kinds of people in the world: those who spend their money on veneers and teeth-whitening procedures… and those who would rather buy dentures that make them look undead. 🙃 These rotten pearly-grays have hand-painted stains that look as though they could only be achieved by years of decay.
Founded by a former dental technician who used to make goofy buck teeth and fangs for his friends at Halloween, Dental Distortions began in 1998 by focusing less on gag teeth, and more on the truly creepy ones. They quickly realized they were on to something when a friend wore his set into a magic store and expected to get a laugh—but was instead met with dead silence and an inability to meet his eye. That’s how you know they look real.
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Half Burnt Severed Vampire Baron Head from Dapper Cadaver
Someone really tried to take this vampire to the final death! This half burned and severed baron head features reddish/yellow eyes, pointed ears, sunken cheeks, an enlarged brow ridge, half burned face, and blood dripping from its mouth. We think it’ll look fabulous on your porch… or dinner table. Depends how far you want to take the spook factor this Halloween season.
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Halloween is a time to celebrate the spectacle of transformation, and perhaps the spooky, thrilling underbellies of the world too. We hope you enjoyed these product picks as much as we did curating them.
Here’s to a spooktacular Halloween with all the thrills, and zero frills.