HALLOWEEN has outstripped all other holidays to give a Christchurch party store its busiest-ever day’s retailing.

Peeks said October 31 generated few sales 20 years ago but was now the biggest one-off day of trading.

Queues were winding through the shop with all tills flat-out, while the week leading up to it was seven times busier than average.

Costumes, blood capsules, cobwebs, scene-setting items, gory prosthetics and masks were among the big sellers.

Previously, New Year’s Eve has been the single biggest day.

Managing director Nick Peek, right, said: “It was an absolutely staggering week in terms of sales, culminating with our biggest ever single day’s trading on October 31.

“This is especially unusual as it was a Friday. Usually people target the nearest Saturday.

“We started selling Halloween items about 25 years ago after a trip to the US when we saw how popular it was there. And it has grown every year since.”