Fancy dress shops in Inverness are feeling the effects of the “creepy clown” craze in the city.
The Hollywood store in the Victorian Market has only sold two clown masks this month, which is lower than expected.
And yesterday, shop worker Carrie Stewart, whose mother Carol Quick owns the store, said parents have been coming in for a look with their children, who are asking for a clown costume but are being swiftly told: “No, anything but a clown costume”.
Mrs Stewart added: “With the clown costumes, we ordered extra stock just before it all started here and were going to order more, but we’ve cancelled the order. The costumes come with the masks and we had probably ordered four or five different costumes more than last year and they are all still there. I don’t think I have sold one.
“It’s not fair on the children and we are obviously being affected with sales. We are open all year round so it does affect us. And it’s normally a lot busier than this in the school holidays.
“I even took the Mad Hatter clown suit off a mannequin this morning because it looks like a clown’s face.”
The manager of the pop-up Halloween HQ shop in the Eastgate Centre, Iain Gibson, says the wider effect of the craze on sales is unknown at this early stage of the month.
However Mr Gibson, who says this is the first time the shop has opened for Halloween, added: “In sympathy with what’s going on right now, we changed a mannequin in the shop from an evil clown to an evil bunny, just so the clown mask wasn’t on show. Everyone is coming in and talking about it.
“I never knew how many people were frightened of clowns in general until we opened up the shop. Some adults and kids have come in and bought stuff but shied away from clown masks. With what’s happening, their fears may have been exacerbated because of the situation.”
Kieran Mackay, a worker at the Happy Halloween pop-up shop in Union Street, said: “We will be cautious about who we sell them to. We want to be selling them to responsible people and if there are any alarms triggered, we won’t sell them.”