Controversial Halloween store condemned by Town of Hempstead

Two weeks before the holiday of its namesake, the Halloween City store that moved into the building formerly occupied by Vanella’s Funeral Home has been deemed, “unfit for human occupancy,” by Town of Hempstead building inspectors. The development forced the pop-up seasonal shop to close its doors.

The shuttering comes amid anger by some members of the Oceanside community, some of whom were patrons of Vanella’s, who thought it disrespectful to operate a store that makes light of death in a building where some had paid their last respects to family and friends.

According to Assistant Chief Michael Uttaro of the Nassau County Fire Marshal’s office, fire marshals typically go on random inspections, especially around holidays, when temporary seasonal stores are common.

While they were inspecting the Halloween City, they noticed a number of violations, including a locked emergency exit door, “not-great electrical,” and a lack of a sprinkler system.

Uttaro said that when the Halloween store moved into the building, it switched from an “assembly” class building, a place where people assemble, into a “mercantile” class building, a place where piles of combustible inventory pose a higher risk of fire.

“There’s a certain criteria of square footage that triggers when you need a sprinkler system,” Uttaro said, adding, “Halloween city definitely had it.”

The marshals issued an appearance ticket for the locked door, violations for the alarm and sprinklers and then notified the Town Department of Buildings. Someone from the building department came and surveyed the store, found that they were in violation, and posted a notice on their door condemning the use of the property.

Neither the Halloween City manager nor Party City officials could be reached for comment.