For those looking for costumes, Spirit Halloween might not be available in the near future.
On Thursday, the York County Fire Marshal requested Spirit Halloween, located in the old Kmart building in York County, shut down operations after seeing that customers were inside the store despite work still needing to be done on the structure, said Lynn Underwood, building official for York County.
“Someone who is just starting something like this has no perception of what things they need to do so it’s not entirely their fault,” Underwood said. “We try to explain that to them, but often they don’t hear us completely.”
A similar situation occurred last year when the store was at the Victory Shopping Center. In August 2018, the store was forced to close after building inspectors realized it was operating without a valid business license.
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This year, Spirit Halloween did apply for the proper permits on Sept. 18 and was approved on Sept. 25, according to county documents.
“This year, they did get a permit ahead of time and we thought it would be great,” Underwood said. “But the Fire Inspector saw that work was still happening and customers were milling about the store and we advised [the owners] not to do that.”
Underwood said he did not know the specifics of what work still needed to be done, but it is his understanding that some of the issues were in regards to electrical wiring and the fire alarm system.
He said there are some cases in which stores might not be shut down because of unfinished work, however it is very rare.
While business owners are made aware of regulations and restrictions on buildings when getting approval for a business, Underwood said it makes sense that store owners might not fully understand because they don’t open businesses frequently.
“The truth is, the person who gets the permit is not the person who does the work,” he said. “Usually that’s a trades-person…but what happens is the people above might have a misunderstanding without consulting the people doing the actual work.”
It remains unclear when or if the store will reopen. Spirit Halloween headquarters did not immediately respond for comment.
