Every year millions of calendars are given out or bought and most of them will have significant dates on them. Some of them are national holidays and many people want to know when they fall upon as they will be paid for no work. Some of the names will be interesting to a few and some will have an interest to the retail world. For example Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’ Day and Halloween are celebrated but are not national holidays.

In the case of Valentine’s Day, it is the guilt complex of not having gifts for your partner which drives it. For Halloween, for unknown reasons it is the day many people are at their front doors to give out candy. If you were to knock on the day before or after, the door might not be answered.

In an article by Aimee Oritz of The New York Times Service, if you spent money on Halloween, you were part of an estimated $11.6 billion in spending, up from $3.3 billion in 2005.

Professor Tom Arnold of the University of Richmond, notes Halloween is a marketer’s dream. It falls on the same day, every year. Halloween costumes and candy are largely consumed and needs to be replenished every year.

According to the National Retail Federation’ annual survey, 47% of consumers begin shopping for Halloween before October. The expectation is spending on candy ($3.5 billion); spending on costumes and decorations ($3.8 billion). The average consumer will spend $103.63 per person.

Who loves the holiday? Millennial and Generation Z consumers, according to Katerine Cullen VP of industry and consumer insights at the National Retail Federation. You can expect 3/4s of adults to celebrate Halloween.

Steven Silverstein, the CEO of Spirit Halloween has seen his stores grow from 130 locations to other 1,500 locations. He has seen Halloween grow from candy for kids to Halloween parties for everyone.

Home Depot Halloween program started in 2013 with a single endcap of a store aisle to row. Home Depot’s most popular product is a 12-foot skeleton, “Skelly” which has sold out every year.

CEO Ashley Buchanan of Michaels noted the chain started selling Halloween items 2 weeks earlier that normal and was greeted with very good sales. There seems to be a pent-up demand.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the retail world is dominated by the calendar and moves through all the holidays and other important dates. Whatever people want to celebrate, the retail world moves in that direction. Another thing driven by the calendar is earnings season and dividend payments that pay quarterly. There are many days that can be important to you as an investor.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.