Belinda Carpenter, assistant manager of the St. Clairsville Spirit Halloween store, left, and Mariah Chura, a sales associate, pose for a photo in front of a section of some of this year’s popular costumes.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Spirit Halloween is anticipating a variety of costume trends this year, including some traditional witches and skeletons along with some ’90s throwbacks such as the Care Bears and Teletubbies.

The seasonal store has returned to the Ohio Valley Mall, opening its doors for the season last month. It set up shop in the former Sears building, which has otherwise remained vacant since its closing in 2019. Every year the Halloween shop briefly moves into a different vacant location at the mall from late summer through Halloween.

Marisa Uzzolino, associate manager of media and photography for Spirit Halloween, said the stores are typically open 8-10 weeks out of the year. This year the St. Clairsville location will close for the season Nov. 2.

Spirit provides residents a place to shop for seasonal decorations, animatronics, movies, accessories and an array of Halloween costumes.

“At Spirit Halloween we have dedicated merchandise and product development teams working year-round to create high quality costumes with exquisite details for each Halloween season. The teams keep their finger on the pulse of pop culture trends and what consumers want in a costume, the team of Merchants and Designers at Spirit Halloween travel near and far to keep stores stocked with the biggest looks of the year. In addition, we have an incredible full-time visual team that works with our buyers and merchandisers long before doors open,” Uzzolino said in an email.

According to the company, some of its most anticipated trends this year are included in five categories — “creepy families,” “the underworld claws its way to the top,” “food, foodie and foodiest,” “throwback to the ’90s,” and “heroes and villains.”

— Creepy Families includes some favorite Halloween family members from movies such as “Beetlejuice,” “Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Hocus Pocus,” “Corpse Bride” and “The Addams Family;”

— The Underworld Claws its Way to the Top includes classics such as devils, demons, witches, skeletons and vampires;

— Food, Foodies and Foodiest includes favorite snack costumes like Cheetos Flamin Hot, avocados, pickles, bananas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and milk and cookies;

— Throwback to the ’90s includes characters from the Teletubbies, Bratz, Care Bears, “Space Jam” and “Killer Klowns from Outer Space;”

— Heroes and Villians includes characters such as Anime favorites Naruto, Dragon Ball Z and My Hero Academia, Descendants, Disney Princesses vs. villians, “Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad,” Miraculous Ladybug, and Paw Patrol.

Moundsville resident Maggie Swiger, a customer shopping at the store Wednesday, said she was in the market for “anything” from the movie “Hocus Pocus” — a favorite seasonal movie of hers. Although she will not be dressing in costume this year, she said she will be decorating her house, which is what prompted her to make the trip to the store.

“I love Spirit Halloween. I come up here every year,” she added.

Tiffany Lucas and her 6-year-old son, Asher Greathouse, of Bethesda were shopping for Halloween costumes at the shop.

“Today (Wednesday) is his birthday, and he had to come here,” Lucas said of her son. “He loves to come here. Halloween is his favorite holiday.”

Though Greathouse was busy looking at — and trying on — different masks, Lucas said he already selected his costume for trick or treat. He plans to go as Jason Voorhees, a character in the movie franchise “Friday the 13th.”

Friends Syndey Dunlap and Kaitlyn Lahita, both of Wheeling, were also browsing the shop for costumes. Dunlap said she plans to dress as a fairy or a devil, while Lahita plans to go as Jessie from the movie franchise “Toy Story.”

All the anticipated popular costumes can be found at Spirit. The St. Clairsville store is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.