When a Liverpool city centre shop issued a stark warning earlier this week, ECHO reporter Erin Bridges knew she had to get there herself. Lili Bizarre, located on Tarleton Street, told its customers "to get there as soon as possible" as it approaches its busiest time of the year.
The shop is one of the last fancy dress stores in the city, and is expecting hundreds of customers in the lead up to Halloween. Speaking to the ECHO previously, owner Lilian 'Lili' Wakefield, from Bebington, said waiting until the last two weeks of October is too late as huge queues start to build.
A Visit Without the Crowds
Last year, queues of hundreds stretched from the front door of the shop, along Church Street, and all the way to Primark during Halloween week. However, visiting today was the opposite and Bridges was luckily able to walk straight in and browse the huge selection of costumes and accessories without the busy crowds.
She was amazed by the range of outfits available, from The Traitors cloaks to Disney villains to standard Halloween costumes such as clowns, witches and pumpkins. The shop even stocked sitcom TV characters Leslie and Kenneth from Benidorm.
A Wide Range of Items
The store also had a huge selection of wigs, Halloween headbands, face paint and fake blood to complete anyone's desired look. Living in Liverpool her whole life, Bridges said she was shocked she had never been in there before, and she can see why the shop is so popular. The shop is also a great option if you're looking to buy balloons for a special occasion.
The staff were eager to help, asking Bridges and other customers if they needed help finding anything. She very much appreciated this, especially not knowing what she was going to dress up as for Halloween.
A Big Role in the City
With the closure of Smiffy's on Bold Street in 2024 and independent fancy dress stores becoming increasingly rare, Lili's Bizarre has taken on a big role in Liverpool's city centre. In the past, the business out-grew several premises until relocating to its current home in 2014, where the 4,921 sq ft retail space now stretches over two storeys and sees queues out the door during busy periods.
Lili Bizarre recently announced the temporary suspension of their hire department from Saturday, October 3 until after Halloween. Now, Lilian's children Gary and Lorna mainly run the store, becoming a familiar face to shoppers. Speaking to the ECHO, Lorna said: "We advise people to get in as soon as possible. People normally start looking for outfits the last two weeks [of October] but it's usually too late by then - the queues have started."
She added: "At around 4pm, we assess the queue and tell people they probably won't be served after this point. We tell them to go home. Some people will ask why we don't stay open later to meet demand but when we close, we still have to organise the store, organise stock and get ready for the next day. We're here sometimes until 10pm and back the next day at 5am. There's physically no way we could open any later."
On November 1, the team are rightly "knackered", Lorna added: "The lead up and through Halloween is chocker. It's horrible but we get through it. We're hands on with authority but we're still very nice as people know we are. We like to laugh about how busy it gets afterwards, but only when we get through it. We tell people every year to get down early but they never listen."
