MESA, Ariz. — Halloween isn't the only time that people need costumes. Lords and ladies take to the Renaissance Festival. School kids pick up exuberant projects. Theater companies come from all around to stock their shows. For 30 years, Angie Ott has made sure that everyone has the festive fashion they need.
But now, she's passing on the torch and retiring from her beloved store, Fun Costumes in Mesa.
"It's been a long road. It's been a fun one. But it's just a lot of work for one person to do!" Angie said, bouncing one of her seven grandchildren on her lap. "I wanted to pass it along to someone who would have fun with it and let it grow."
When Angie started back in 1993, the store was a little gift shop called Fun City and it wasn't even hers. Then one day she walked in with years of sewing experience under her belt.
"I introduced myself to the owner and we just started doing costumes from then on. That's how we started," Angie explained.
Over the next 15 years, their business pivoted more and more into making clothes and costumes. When the owner decided she was ready to retire, Angie bought the venue from her.
Fun Costumes has adorned Main Street in Mesa ever since. Angie's kids grew up running around Fun City, and her grandkids did the same in Fun Costumes.
But three decades and hundreds of costumes later, Angie said she's ready for a break.
"I'm going to move... Got some land and houses out there and gonna actually live the country life and just relax," she joked. "I am still going to sew, but it's going to be for fun."
Even if Fun Costumes is closing its doors, this isn't the end of the store's legacy. Several of Angie's family members have pitched in to buy up her remaining stock and start businesses of their own.
"I feel like there needs to be younger blood, fresh blood brought into it and see things for what they are now," she said. "I'm excited to see what will become of it."
And good news for the costumed crusaders of the Valley: one of Angie's cousins will be setting up shop in the same location. The new store will be called JLC Costumes. Right now there's no set opening date.
If you want to pitch in to help, Angie is holding a 75% off sale Friday and Saturday for every single item in the store. For those of you who have rented costumes from Angie for years, this is your chance to finally take that special set home for good!
"I love it, and I've loved it all these 30-plus years. I loved all my customers. I love doing the costumes. I want this next step for my cousins to continue this and I also want people in Mesa, Phoenix, Casa Grande, Tucson, to know that we're still here and we're gonna be here for them," Ott said.
For more about Fun Costumes, you can visit the store's website or Facebook page.
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