The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Photograph by Skye Dunlap Three Musketeers (from left to right) Ginger Silverman, Debbie Owens and Alicia Rabb display one of the store's many group ensembles. The most popular Halloween costume for boys this year is Zorro; girls want to be princesses and fairies. Costume Closet Short on costume ideas? Step into Debbie Lyn's Closet By Pam Marino Christmas is happening this month for Debbie Owens. Not literally, of course, but to the owner of Sunnyvale's only year-round costume shop, Halloween is to her what Christmas is to other retail owners: Owens does 50 percent of her annual business in October. She owns Debbie Lyn's Closet, one of the largest costume shops in the South Bay. "I try to carry top-of-the-line and really unique costumes you don't find elsewhere," Owens said. A typical first-time reaction to the El Camino Real shop is a dumbfounded look, as customers find themselves surrounded by costumes, costumes and more costumes. "My goal is to have you walk in the door and say, 'Wow!'," Owens said. "I've had customers tell me my store is an experience." Rummaging Through Northern California, a regional newspaper that promotes resale shops and other related businesses, recently declared, "If you can't find it here, it probably doesn't exist." And with 4,000 costumes at Owens' disposal, who can argue? The shop is filled with racks and racks of get-ups for all ages, ranging from actual characters like Sherlock Holmes, to character types like cheerleaders, Arabian princes and princesses, soldiers and Renaissance folks. The walls are lined with the big heads of chickens and tigers, a whole rack of petticoats hang from the ceiling, and another wall is filled with hats, masks, weapons, jewelry and other accessories. Speaking of hats, they are Owens' passion, which is why at the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce she is known as the "Hat Lady"; she wears an unusual hat to each Chamber function. "I'm a hat freak, I love the hats," she said. Her shop has a large collection of "fun and funky hats," she calls them, from the Mad Hatter to the Pope. Owens seems mild mannered at first glance, but put a hat on her head and there's a glint her eye and a hint of her years acting in school and community theater. The store has clown costumes and clown accessories, which get used year-round. There are also wigs for any type of costume and a large collection of make-up. Customers can even make appointments with make-up artists who will show them how to use the make-up for any look. And there's lots of blood: blood gel, thick blood, blood caps, you name it; "wherever you need blood, we have blood," Owens said. Last year Owens expanded her business into the shop next door, what she calls the "Cut Above Room." In it are racks of clothing from the 1700s up to the 1980s. There are feather boas in nearly every color hanging from the top of the window. This year, one wall is dedicated to--what else? Titanic. A replica of Molly Brown's costume is Owens' favorite, mostly because of the spectacular hat that accessorizes it. Replicas of Rose's dresses are also on board, as well as a captain's costume and a Titanic life preserver. The costumes are more expensive in the Cut Above Room--they can cost as much as $125 or $150 to rent for 48 hours--but the result is a finished, high-quality look. "We'll pretty much costume you from the skin out," Owens said. She finds there are a large number of customers who don't care about the cost, they just want to "wow" their friends and fellow party-goers. Costumes in the rest of the store start as low as $10 to rent. The costumes are also available to buy, and at this time of year there are racks near the front door selling the types of costumes and accessories found at most stores around Halloween. Outside the store is the "Heck of a Deal Halloween House," a temporary shed filled with bits and pieces of costumes, as well as marked-down costumes from previous years. Owens said she fills the shed with "unusual clothes for costume bases ... one girl found the perfect thing for a Pippi Longstocking costume, and it only cost $5." What's hot in Halloween costumes this year? Owens said for girls they are selling a lot of princesses and fairies. Boys and men are zoning in on Zorro. "Cat in the Hat" costumes are very popular for all ages, and superheroes are always big, no matter what the year. The 1970s is another popular theme, as are aliens or space travelers. Owens said Titanic "is out there, but it's not amazing." There are Bill and Hillary masks available, but no Monica lookalikes. Each year people come in looking for group costumes, like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or the Wizard of Oz. The shop also outfits couples in costumes of famous duos, like Antony and Cleopatra. On a recent lunch hour customers browsed through the store, looking for ideas and accessories. Karla Bakkum of San Jose was trying to find just the right finishing touches for her "rather twisted Little Red Riding Hood" costume. She plans on stocking her basket with gory-looking wolf parts tucked in among the goodies. "I've never been here before ... it's cool," said Bakkum, who usually volunteers as a character for a haunted house every year. Dale Bender and Gina Aumiller of San Francisco were trying to agree on a couple's costume. Bender was leaning toward the Grinch and his dog, but Aumiller had her heart set on Jan Brady in the afro wig with Bender acting as her brother, Greg. Bender said the shop is "a great idea to have because everyone around here gets into Halloween." He called it the perfect place for Halloween costume "one-stop shopping." Rentals are the heart of Debbie Lyn's Closet, and already the shop has a backlog of costumes on hold for customers. One local company is doing an Austin Powers theme party; the Fembots' costumes sit waiting to be picked up, and the only Austin outfit the store could find, size 50, is on its way. Batgirl is already rented out for Halloween, as are a number of other costumes. But not to worry; Owens said it's common for customers to come in with one idea for a costume and then think of several more after browsing the racks. Owens' love of costumes started when she began acting in junior high school. She found that the better her costume was, the deeper she could get into character. As an adult she costumed shows for community theater. She started creating costumes for many local theater groups, including the Sunnyvale Players, in 1984. Since money is tight for such groups, Owens said she begged and borrowed costumes from people, shopped at thrift stores, and sewed as a last resort. "I ended up with a garage full of costumes," Owens said. And once people learned of what she calls her "costume-aholic disease," they started giving her even more costumes. Owens decided to start her own costume and consignment clothing business. "I unloaded the garage to the store," she said. That was five years ago. Business really "took off," Owens said, in September 1995, when she got rid of a consignment clothing section. As word got around that she carried an enormous selection of costumes, people began to stream in--and not just at Halloween time. The personal attention is also part of what sets Debbie Lyn's Closet apart. "It's still a great deal of fun for me to dress [customers] up," Owens said. Owens said she purposely hires a staff of creative people who love to help customers with their costume fantasies. The downside to Halloween, she said, is that the staff doesn't have as much time to help each customer as they do the rest of the year. Owens' store was the creator of P.C. Feathers, this year's big chicken mascot for the Santa Clara County Fair. The Renaissance Fair is a big source of customers. Renaissance clothes are in demand for proms and theme weddings, as well, Owens said. In fact, the store does a number of theme weddings throughout the year. Companies often throw theme parties, which require costumes from the shop. One company even sent employees to a costume party in Versailles, France, wearing 1700s period gowns and suits from Owens' store. She recently added a rack of rental clothing for children, which gets used for book report presentations and special events like Colonial Days. While those endeavors keep the staff busy the rest of the year, Halloween keeps them jumping during October. By some estimates, Halloween has become the second-largest retail holiday of the year. Owens said she believes Halloween continues to grow in popularity because it's a holiday that doesn't require anyone to buy gifts, cook or host family. It can be a time of year for people to just plain have fun, and maybe even transform themselves for an evening. "My personal opinion about why people like to dress up for Halloween is that people get to be something they're not. They get to play," she said. Someone who doesn't normally dress sexy can, or another can be weird for weird's sake. "It's just a time to be crazy." For more information call Debbie Lyn's Closet at 245-8720 or 800-68-COSTUME. The store is located at 954 W. El Camino Real, near Mary Avenue. Hours from now until Halloween are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily. [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, October 14, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.