One of the last-standing local costume shops is shutting down amid a shift to online retail, leaving hundreds of costumes up for grabs.
Buffalo Breath is the oldest and largest costume shop in the county, according to its website.
Established in 1972, the costume shop based in Kearny Mesa announced its closure in October.
“We need to be out by next month,” Buffalo Breath owner, Susie Issa told NBC 7.
While the final date is unknown at this time, Buffalo Breath hopes to make it through the holiday season.
“Santas,” Issa said. “Open all through December for them.”
Christmas, Comic-Con, Halloween, and Easter were all busy seasons when the store had to bring in extra help, Issa said.
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Four full-time employees and as many as 25 seasonal workers will be impacted by the close.
Some of who were already let go as financial burdens became too much for the store, Issa said.
As to why the 46-year-old costume center has to call it quits, Issa said, “Amazon, the internet, we can’t compete with them.”
Buffalo Breath was struggling for the past three years, according to the owner. She said the retail industry has changed so much that physical stores are hurting.
“All the millennials and the new generations are ordering online,” Issa told NBC 7.
Sales and a final auction will try to find new homes for the hundreds of costumes.
“We want a good home for them,” Issa said. “They’re very special to us.”
Theatrical quality costumes are up to 75 percent off and everything else is up to 60 percent off in the costume shop’s liquidation sale, according to its Facebook page.
In a post, the store said, “The sale will continue until we close our doors forever, which will probably be at the end of December.”
Whatever is available will be first come, first serve.
People from all over the country have been placing orders online in the store’s last effort to ditch its inventory, according to Issa.
Buffalo Breath has previously done business in four different continents.
When the costume shop moved from Mission Hills to Kearny Mesa, some items were donated, and Issa hopes that the “stuff that is special” can be donated after the last auction.
Before Mission Hills, Buffalo Breath was in Little Italy in the 1990s and in Pacific Beach, its first home, before that.
“I would like the community to take the advantage to come and get the costumes they want at a good price,” Issa said.
Located at 5630 Kearny Mesa Road Suite B, the store specialized in high-end theatrical-quality period costumes.
Costume-lovers are able to buy items from the shop's website or in-person.
