A Peek Into Halloween’s Past: Store Displays from 1969!

Today I’m going to step sideways a bit, and rather than looking at a specific piece of Halloween packaging or marketing, I’m going to share a series of photos of Halloween retail store displays in 1969.  I’m posting this to serve as a fun little peek into Halloween’s past.

Before I get to the images, I will point out that these came from a pair of articles on merchandising in a candy trade magazine.  Due to the nature of the medium and the era, the quality on these isn’t so great.  Even so, I was able to enhance them a bit, and I hope you enjoy the glimpse they provide into another Halloween era.

At this point, I’m going to let the images speak for themselves, so here they are:

1969 Halloween Store Displays 1

1969 Halloween Store Displays 2

1969 Halloween Store Displays 3

1969 Halloween Store Displays 4

1969 Halloween Store Displays 5

1969 Halloween Store Displays 6

1969 Halloween Store Displays 7

1969 Halloween Store Displays 8

1969 Halloween Store Displays 9

1969 Halloween Store Displays 10

1969 Halloween Store Displays 11

And that’s all of them.  I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into Halloween’s past.  See you next time!

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Today’s post has been part of CollectingCandy.com’s Countdown to Halloween.  To check out other sites celebrating Halloween all month long, check out the official Halloween Countdown site.

About Jason Liebig

A New York City based writer, editor and sometimes actor. After spending much of the 1990′s in the comic book business helping tell the stories of Marvel Comics’ X-Men as series editor, he has since split his time between developing his own entertainment properties while still consulting and working on others. Having been described as “the Indiana Jones of lost and forgotten candy”, Jason is one of the country’s premier candy collectors and historians with his discoveries appearing in countless blogs, magazines, newspaper articles, and books. Always happy to share his knowledge and unique perspectives on this colorful part of our popular culture, Jason has consulted with New York’s Museum of Food and Drink and has also been a featured guest on Food Network’s Heavyweights, France’s M6 Capital, and New York’s TheActionRoom.com. My Google Profile+
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4 Responses to A Peek Into Halloween’s Past: Store Displays from 1969!

  1. Pingback: Halloween Retail Store Displays (1969)

  2. Wow.
    Is it just me or does the volume of candy seem to be WAY more than today.
    Sure, there’s certainly not a shortage of candy in most grocery stores and chains, so it must be the way it’s stacked or something that makes it look so abundant.
    Nice post!

    • jasonliebig says:

      Steve,

      That’s a keen observation. I wonder if it wasn’t truly more abundant.

      It gets me speculating, and I’m only speculating here, but I wonder if any of these was true, and possibly led to the huge displays in question:

      * Back in the 1960’s, they may have only stocked Halloween candy for a few weeks, rather than two months, so it may have been a much more intense, short-term buying period.

      * With fewer outlets back in 1969 to buy things, the stores that were out there needed to stock big.

      * Another possibility is simply that these photos are from a merchandising article, so it may have been a case of going to stores that had notoriously big setups, or they built big knowing that a photographer from a magazine was coming.

      But I really think it may be that retailers and jobbers built more big displays back then. You don’t find setups like you used to, but you see them more and more in vintage grocery store photos. It’s cool to be able to find images like this.

  3. Pingback: CollectingCandy.com’s Anniversary Celebration – 15 Of My Favorite Posts! | CollectingCandy.com

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