A Silicon Valley Start-up
By Jane Everhart, Contributing Editor
Many of Silicon Valley's most famous computer
companies, including Hewlett-Packard and
Apple, were launched in garages. So too, was
one of the Valley's most successful costume
companies - Debbie Lyn's Costumes, which is owned by
Debbie Lyn Owens.
Owens's interest in costumes grew out of her love for the theater.
In the early 1990s, she was working as an actor in a community
theater group when she realized she enjoyed helping the
group's seamstress even more than she enjoyed performing. Out
of that realization, a thriving one-person costume business was
launched, and soon Owens's garage was filled with costumes.
At the time, Owens was also a part-time bookkeeper for a
company that owned a vacant 3,700-square foot building on El
Camino Real, the main street of Sunnyvale, Calif. She asked her
boss if she could move her costume business into the vacant
building, and in 1993, Owens opened her store, Debbie Lyn's
Costumes. Last year, the business relocated again - this time
into a 6,000-square-foot space, which is also in Sunnyvale, the
headquarters for many of the country's major high-tech firms.
Debbie Lyn's Costumes - in both its original and new incarnation - has been a big hit with the Silicon Valley office crowd. "People come to my store for therapy," says Owens. "You have
the blues? You go to a costume shop and try on some funky
hats. When you put on a costume, you change who you are. All
of a sudden, you feel better, and you don't have to spend any
money. There is no admission fee."
Fortunately, most of her customers don't just try on a few hats
and leave. They also buy and rent ensembles for Halloween,
theme parties, corporate events, community-theatre productions
and school projects. The store carries 9,000 costumes.
Sixty percent of its business is sales, and 40 percent is rentals.
Rentals start around $5 and can go up to $125 for a full outfit.
Customers are pulled from a 60- to 70-mile radius, which, in
California's car culture, is considered a relatively short distance,
says Owens. Many of her customers commute to jobs in
Sunnyvale from bedroom communities around the San Jose
area. Says Owens: "They can pick up their costumes on Friday
and return them on Monday. And we pretend that's 48 hours."
Other Seasons
Debbie Lyn's Costumes' shoppers don't just dress up for
Halloween; they find reasons to do so year-round. "Granted,
Halloween is the biggest season but it's not our only season," says
Owens. "Christmas, for example, is a big season for us for both
rentals and sales. We sell Santa suits, beards and wigs, elf costumes,
Santa hats and red-and-white-striped socks." Owens enumerates
other costume seasons: the month of November brings
Thanksgiving school projects, many of which involve costumes; in
February there are Mardi Gras parties; with the Easter season
comes a call for bunny suits and costumes for church pageants.
Silicon Valley's businesses also help boost year-round sales.
Says Owens: "Yesterday, some people from Yahoo called. They
are doing something tomorrow - I don't know what - and they
need 12 superheroes. Earlier this year, I costumed 175 people
at a national sales conference for a costume party on the last
night of their conference."
Owens also rents children's costumes, which few other costumers
do. "Every fifth grader in the state does a California history
project, and we rent costumes for that, which saves the
parents hassle and money. We do an amazing amount of work
each year with students who are doing re-enactments of
Renaissance fairs or colonial days or California history." She
also sells some children's costumes. "The purchase price is on
the higher side because we carry a quality product. Kids' costumes
prices go up as high as $80," says Owens.
In adult costumes, Owens' best-selling categories are
Renaissance characters, pirates and superheroes. Popular costumes
include Batman, Superman, Spider-man and Guy Fawkes
(from V for Vendetta). Retail prices for adult ensembles can be
as high as $1,600.
Staff Knows Trends
Owens has four full-time sales associates and adds 10 to 15
more for the Halloween season. She feels that the biggest difference
between her business and other costume stores is her
staff. "My competitors all carry a lot of the same product and
our prices are competitive," she points out. "But my staff, who
have all done performing of some kind, really try to help people
with a personal touch."
Debbie Lyn's Costumes' staff includes a number of young people,
and Owens notes that they help fill in gaps in her knowledge
of popular culture. "What I don't know about current trends, like
anime - those are the stylized Japanese cartoon characters - my
staff will know. And vice versa. Some of the people who work for
me wouldn't know Carmen Miranda if she walked in the front
door, but I do, so it's almost impossible to stump us."
Her favorite customer, Owens says, is the person "who doesn't
want to go to a party, doesn't like the scene, doesn't want to
wear a costume and isn't really sure they like their date anymore."
By the time she gets done with them, "they're ready to
win first prize for the costume because they've gotten involved
in the experience of creating a character."
Website Brings Traffic
Owens advertises in newspapers, yellow
pages, magazines and school newspapers.
Every ad includes a discount
coupon, as does the store's website. "The offers are the same, but most of
the coupons that are redeemed come
from my website," she notes. "I don't
do e-commerce. I don't have a shopping
cart on my website. But I get inquiries
from all over the country and we ship a
lot of stuff." Owens also advertises on
radio, but only during the Halloween
season. "I've found the best puller is
your own website. My home page
brings more traffic than anything else."
Owens also does presentations on
the subject of historical garments to
schools and organizations all over the
Silicon Valley area. "This past year, wedid a fashion show that was called 'Dressing Through the Decades.' One
year we did the history of shoes, and
another year we did hats. Costume is a
mode of dress. Someday people will
look back at us and say, look how oddly
they dressed in 2008."
In addition to her store's shoppers,
Owens also has one other steady costume
customer - her husband. Says Owens "He is a professional jazz musician, and I
costume him and the people with whom
he performs; they need straw boaters,
vests, flapper dresses and bow ties."
