The New Home!
By Ed Avis
Sometimes when property values climb, it’s a good thing. But sometimes it’s not. The latter was the case for NCA member Freaky Findz, which was forced to find a new location when the rent shot up for their store in New Braunfels, Texas.
“This has become a real hotbed for developers,” reports Dean Gibson, owner of Freaky Findz. “Property values have skyrocketed here. It's impossible now. Real estate, especially for commercial, is insanely high. We couldn't afford that at all.”
Fortunately, Gibson was able to find a suitable new location in nearby San Marcos, Texas. Their new store originally was a five-and-dime, and then a popular retailer called Paper Bear.
“Paper Bear was there for 40 years and we still have people come in and go, ‘Oh man, we're so glad you opened here. This was our favorite store when we were going to school here.’ So that store has a lot of history and the whole downtown San Marcos Square and everything is very active and really cool place.”
Gibson says they started renovations on the new space last March and moved in October 1. That was later than hoped – they anticipated moving in July 1 – but at least they were there for the Halloween season.
“Last year we still did pretty well considering the late opening,” he says.
Deep History
Gibson became interested in horror merchandise as a child in the 1960s. He had some health problems for a while, and the doctor suggested that a hobby that required him to use his hands would be helpful. So he asked his parents for some monster models from Aurora, such as Wolf Man and Dracula.
Part of the Freaky Findz mask collection
“And so I put 'em together and entered a contest and ended up meeting Lon Cheney Jr., who was the original Wolf Man,” Gibson says. “I got really interested in special effects and I watched every monster show that came on TV and Saturday night or Saturday matinees. I would drag my sister along and watch all the B movies or whatever sci-fi or monster movie that would come out. My sister would have the nightmares and I'd have the fun. So it was crazy. But that's where I got the bug and started collecting masks.”
When Gibson grew up he became a salesman for Sweetheart Cup company, a job that took him to many cities. He bought collectible masks wherever he found them. He started noticing that costume shops were crowded and realized demand for those kinds of products was high. That led him to start his first business, Nightmare Factory, which sold horror products through the mail.
When the first “Halloween” movie came out, he presciently bought up all the Captain Kirk masks he could find and had them painted white so they resembled the mask worn by the character Michael Meyers in the movie. It became a best seller. He had a similar success with custom-made hockey masks when Friday the 13th was launched.
“Those were kind of my two claims of fame back then,” he says.
Plain old Santa isn't enough for Freaky Findz customers!
His mail order business eventually led to a series of pop-up stores in the early ‘80s, and in 1984 he opened a year-round store called Just for Fun in El Paso, Texas. A complicated divorce caused him to eventually close that store, and he left the costume business for a while.
About 12 years ago his new wife persuaded him to give it another shot and he opened Freaky Findz. One important thing has remained throughout his career: His mask collection.
“In our store today we probably have 3,000 different quality masks in stock,” he reports. “The whole perimeter of the store has masks around it so it looks like a museum. People come in and they'll just stay for hours just looking at everything. It's just pretty crazy.”
So if you’re in San Marcos, be sure to stop by and see the collection. And wish Dean well in his new location!