Mr. Fun's Costumes in University Plaza and Spellbinders on S. Water Street are Kent's only costume shops. And with the bulk of their costume sales in October and November, some people have wondered how they stay in business long after the Halloween season.

Jim Destro, a 24-year-old junior political science major at Kent State, recently bought two of the five Mr. Fun's Costumes stores and is planning on buying the remaining stores because he said "it's a great business."

"I worked for the company for five years and bought the (Kent) store last April," Destro said. "I just opened another store in Summit Mall.

"We make a lot of money this month. We have big accounts with Kent State's theater department that lasts year-round, but our season really starts in late September and dies Oct. 31 around 7 o'clock."

Destro said he keeps between eight and nine employees at the Kent store and adds more help as Halloween approaches.

"Right now I have 12 employees, but I'll have 25 by the end of the month," he said. "Around here, everyone seems to wait until the last minute, Oct. 31, to get a costume."

Destro said he likes the costume business, but "it's not for everybody."

"It's a good business," he said. "The way I beat our competition is no one has the inventory I have. I have the most extensive inventory guaranteed. Mr. Fun's was established in 1968, so that's 30 years of acquiring stuff.

"This store caters to students. Most of our business is in retail, but we do rent costumes. It's about a 75/25 percent split."

The store has about 2,500 rental costumes plus many costumes and vintage clothing for sale.

Most rental costumes cost $25-$75 with a $30 deposit.

Destro said the most popular new rental is a copy of Rose's dress from the movie "Titanic." The outfit comes with a mock Heart of the Ocean diamond.

A sequin Dallas Cowgirl costume also was recently added to Destro's addition and retails for about $100.

Destro is selling a lot of vinyl costumes this year. He said his most outrageous vinyl outfit is a red Firegirl costume complete with a jacket, hat and thong bikini.

Destor pointed out a black vinyl one-piece cat suit and said it has sold out every year. It costs $58, and the whip and headpiece are not included.

Destor said the store sells a lot of make-up, masks, hair dye and wigs.

Incense, specialty lighters, gag gifts, T-shirts with sayings like "I love porn," posters, temporary tattoos, body jewelry and Mehndi body art supplies have also become sale items at Mr. Fun's.

But Destro said his biggest new sale item is inflatable furniture. A bright green inflatable chair costs about $40.

"It's comfortable," he said.

Spellbinders is Mr. Fun's Costumes' only Kent competition, but Destro accused Spellbinders of not being a "real costume shop" because it mainly sells cards and games.

"We've been in business in Kent for 10 years," Destro said. "Spellbinders is more of a magazine and card shop. They're not in it 12 months out of the year like us. We're a true costume shop."

Spellbinders owner Paul Vurdick said his store mainly sells comics and video and computer games.

Vurdick said he is amazed that Mr. Fun's Costumes is able to stay open year-round as just a costume shop and adds that his store would not be able to survive if he only sold costumes.

"It's a seasonable business and really only gets going in the month of October," he said. "I clear out a third of the store during September and put all the costumes out and arrange them. I leave the masks out all year long."

Vurdick said besides Halloween, he also has customers rent costumes for Renaissance festivals and dress-up murder mysteries.

He said his rental rates start at $10 and go to $50.

"People have limited funds, and they want to look good, but they don't want to spend a lot of money, and we cater to that," Vurdick said.

Vurdick said he has great comic character costumes like Spiderman and Superman. He also said he rents a lot of psycho patient outfits and has a big chicken suit that is popular.