With Halloween weekend just around the corner, the mad dash for costumes is well under way. Luckily for students, there is a nearby store that carries all their last-minute Halloween needs.

Dallas and Co., 101 E. University Ave., draws crowds from both near and far for its enormous selection of costumes and various other goods.

Wes Schield, manager and employee of Dallas for 26 years, said people come from Chicago, St. Louis and Indiana to the store during the Halloween season.

“Halloween is our Christmas,” Schield said. “It’s our busiest time of the year. We are a Halloween store, but we sell party goods, magic and a lot of other things.”

Racks of costumes, masks, wigs and anything else imaginable clutter the store. Decorations shriek and flash, setting the ambiance of the store. Once Halloween is over, business may slow down, but it does not stop completely, Schield said.

“If you look at a calendar, there isn’t a month that goes by that there is not a holiday around the corner,” Schield said. “There is always a holiday. There is always a party. There is never a time of the year when there is nothing going on.”

Right now, Dallas is in the midst of its busiest time of the year.

The Halloween season kicked off in September with free magic shows and continued up until last week with a haunted room that had more than $30,000 worth of products in it, Schield said.

“With only a week to go, we are just trying to make sure that we keep the merchandise that we have out on the floor so people can find it,” Schield said. “As the crowds get bigger and bigger, we just want people to get in and get out as quickly as possible.”

Samantha Vanosky, sophomore in LAS, walked into Dallas with little idea of what she wanted to be, but she walked out with a referee costume.

“I tried a bunch of different costumes on and everyone said the referee costume looked the best,” Vanosky said. “It was cute, so I got it.”

While many of the costume shops carry similar costumes, there are no costumes that are the most popular, Schield said.

“There are a lot of times people come in with certain ideas,” Schield said. “But because of the selection, they will change their minds.”

Courtney Puebla, junior in ACES, came into Dallas not wanting to follow the stereotypical “slutty” costume idea. She wanted to put together her own costume, using some clothes she already owned and various props from Dallas.

“I am kind of making my costume,” Puebla said. “I am just putting stuff together, but I think I am going to be a cowgirl. I already have some boots that I love, and I am buying a hat and a gun. I still have to find a dress that is sort of country.”

Another thing that sets Dallas apart from its competition, something that Schield feels makes the store special, is that it allows students to rent costumes, starting at $20.

“We’ve got a special in October where you can rent a costume today, bring it with you today, bring it back in November and it’s still a one day price,” Schield said.

Whatever students want to be, whether they want to buy a costume or make their own, Dallas is sure to have all their costume needs.

“If you come in looking for something that we don’t have and there’s a chance we can get it, we will try,” Schield said. “We’ve built our whole store off of that philosophy.”