Halloween is just around the corner. Have you picked out your costume? Do you have any idea of who or what you might want to be this year?
Whether you’re looking to dress up as the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland or as Donkey from Shrek, you’ll find everything you’ll need at a local mom-and-pop store in Red Bank called Beauty and the Beast Costumes.
Using her handy sewing machine, Susan Stringer, the store’s owner, has meticulously crafted gowns, coats and professionally designed costumes for the past 35 years.
Stringer is quick to welcome you inside her store. Her effervescent personality quickly sets you at ease and makes you feel like you’ve known each other forever.
Stringer said she started perfecting her craft when she was just a teenager. A self-described nerd, she began designing her own clothes while in high school. Her grandmother would take her ideas and sew them into reality. Eventually her grandmother, mother and sister taught her how to sew.
But it was her first visit to Chattacon, an annual convention for fans of science fiction and fantasy, which started back in 1976, that introduced her to the world of costumed characters.
“People dressed up as their favorite book character,” she said as she walked around the hundreds of hand sewn costumes she has in her inventory. “That is what I really loved. There was no visual image of what this character or that character was supposed to look like. So, whatever you saw in your head and what you created – that was it! People were enthusiastic about that.”
She said her first costuming job was at the old Chattanooga Costume store back in the 1980’s. In college she studied Advertising Arts. “And what did I do?” she exclaimed out loud with a laugh. “I opened a costume shop!
Stringer said the things she learned in advertising class translate into 3-D because of the understanding of color theory and proportional structures and so forth. “The same colors and images that make a photo or a drawing appealing, are the same things that make costumes appealing,” she said.
Her store has plenty of makeup kits, regular and scary masks, props, accessories, capes, gloves, wigs, beards, mustaches and more. Some costumes are available for purchase and others for rent. Her rental prices are the lowest in town and she hasn’t changed her prices in several years.
Right now, she is ramping up her inventory as Halloween gets closer. She plans to extend her store hours as the holiday approaches.
But Stringer said she stays busy year-round, not just Halloween. “If school is in session, we are busy,” she said.
Stringer works with several local high schools, creating costumes for their various plays and dress up days. She’s designed costumes for Shrek the Musical, Peter Pan, Frozen, Seussical the Musical and others. “I try and only take on projects that I know I can finish,” she said.
Customers also come to her at Christmas time and New Year’s Eve. “The Read House throws a killer 1920’s New Year’s Eve Party,” she said.
People often visit her store looking for a bunny costume around Easter and colorful beads and costumes for Mardi Gras. Stringer said she is happy to be open and of service to her community.
“Sixty to 70% of the mom-and-pop stores around the nation are gone,” she said mostly due to the COVID pandemic. Seeing her customers walk out of her store with a smile is what keeps her going. “That’s the biggest reason to do it,” she said.
Beauty and the Beast Costumes
- 3708 Dayton Blvd.
- Chattanooga, TN 37415
- (423) 870-3510
- Website: https://2bcostumes.com/
- Hours: Monday-Friday 9-6, Saturdays 10-2, Closed Sundays
October has extended hours for Halloween:
- 1st week of October, Monday – Friday 9 am – 6:30 pm, Saturday – 10 am – 4 pm
- 2nd week of October, Monday – Friday 9 am – 7 pm, Saturday – 10 am – 6 pm
- 3rd week of October, Monday – Friday 9 am – 7:30 pm, Saturday – 10 am – 7 pm
- 4th week of October through November 1, Monday – Friday 9 am – 8 pm, Saturday – 10 am – 7 pm