EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Markets and Companies, Retail

Rimi representative Dace Valnere said that Rimi sells pumpkin-shaped candle holders, wigs, hats, various costumes and much more, writes LETA.

"We especially emphasize our offer of pumpkins and various goods of orange color, including candies, candles and others" says Valnere, adding that orange conical hats appear to be in great demand at the moment.

Various pumpkins are currently available at Rimi stores, from tiny to huge ones. The demand for pumpkins has increased significantly this week.

Halloween is a rather untraditional holiday for Latvia that is celebrated by fewer people than Christmas or Ligo! Midsummer holiday, and people usually are not preparing for Halloween for as long as for the traditional holidays. "Usually the thematic purchases for Halloween are made shortly before the holiday, on the weekend," adds Valnere.

"Iki" stores representative Raimonds Jansevskis notes that the demand for pumpkins has increased significantly this week. "Latvia-grown pumpkins at "Iki" stores are well-shaped for the purpose; we expect that customers' interest will increase closer to October 31," said Jansevskis.

"At the largest stores we also sell bright and exciting costumes. We will see how well they sell after the holiday, because as we previously observed, customers buy items for Halloween spontaneously and mostly on October 31," says Jansevskis.

On the other hand, Maxima representative Viktorija Orlova says that although various Halloween-themed goods and products are sold at Maxima stores, they are not very popular with customers as not many people in Latvia celebrate Halloween.