Halloween Shop to Take Over Harvard Street Storefront

Brookline's busiest street on Halloween will soon have a small shop dedicated to the holiday just a few blocks away.

Dedham-based iParty in opening a temporary Halloween shop in a vacant video-rental store on Harvard Street just block from Beals Street, which has become known to some as the "Trick-Or-Treat Street" because of its popularity among the costume-and-candy crowd.

The so-called "pop-up store" is only be open through the Halloween season and will be about half the size of a permanent iParty store.

"It's perfect for our Halloween pop-up store," said iParty CEO Sal Perisano. "Brookline, I'm sure, is a good family market."

Founded in 2000 with the merger of an online party supply website and a brick-and-mortar retailer, iParty now has just over 50 permanent stores in New England in Florida. In addition, it plans to open 10 pop-up stores with a heavy emphasis on costume supplies this Halloween season.

Persiano said the temporary stores allow his company to test out new markets before committing to a permanent location. Of the four pop-up stores iParty opened last year, two became permanent locations after Halloween passed.

Persiano said he hadn't ruled out the same thing happening in Brookline.

"We'd love to have as store in Brookline," he said. "Who knows, maybe we can stay there permanently."