Halloween masks flying off shelves at Chicago costume shop

October 17, 2012 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Be yourself- except on Halloween. Then you should be a princess. Or a superhero.

That is, if you're a kid.

"As we were all kids once we liked to be super heroes. The girls loved to be princesses. So that stays the same every year. As adults we're looking for the wild and crazy. What's new, what's hot, what's in the news," Chuck Giovenco, Fantasy Costumes, said.

What's hot for adults -- more and more of them are dressing up, Giovenco sayd -- at Fantasy Costumes on Milwaukee just north of Irving Park are masks. All different kinds, some of them are expensive. Why they're selling is anyone's guess.

"I have no idea," John Helmer, Fantasy Costumes, said. "Fantastic sales this year. We're probably up four times from what we were last year. They're just flying off the shelves."

Two masks that are flying off the shelves: Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama.

"Sales between President Obama's mask and the Mitt Romney mask is about a 50/50 split with about a 4-percent margin of error," Helmer said. "Sometimes they buy them because they like them and sometimes because they want to make fun of them. So we never know."

Giovenco said Halloween shopping will pick up speed in the next days.

" We've been rocking and rolling the past week and expect it to become very busy this coming weekend. As people prepare for Halloween parties," Giovenco said.

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