OCTOBER 2019 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 25
WHOLLY MOLI
RUBIE’S COSTUME COMPANY
HALLOWEEN MEETS HOLLYWOOD
BY CLAUDE SOLNIK
Rubie’s Costume Company’s tag line
is “the world’s largest designer and
manufacturer of costumes,” but it
might as well be “Halloween starts
here.”
The company’s costumes fill the
shelves of stores ranging from
Walmart to temporary Halloween
shops, in addition to Rubie’s
megastores in Melville, Westbury
and Richmond Hill, Queens. It’s a
costume king — a global giant that
virtually owns the holiday the way
the NFL owns Sundays.
“This year is a superhero year for
Halloween,” the company’s blog
says.
It all started with Rubie’s Candy
Store, founded in 1951 by Rubin, aka
Rubie, and Tillie Beige in Queens,
selling comic books, candy, and novelties.
A decade later, they renamed
the shop Rubie’s Fun House and
began selling hats, costumes, accessories,
wigs, and masks.
In the 1970s, their son
Marc Beige changed
the name to Rubie’s
Costume Company,
became president,
and grew it into a licensing
and costume
giant. His brothers
Howard and Joel
and sister Maxine
help him run the
family business,
which is now
headquartered in
Melville.
A family owned
and operated
business for near- ly 70
years, its costume catalogue
— yes, it includes
outfits for pets — is the
size of the telephone book
for a large city. The founding
family’s third
generation is now
involved in the
company that,
if it doesn’t own
H a l l o w e e n ,
owns a lot of the
licenses that fuel
the holiday, from
classic to current
properties.
The company
is now a
sup e rhe r o
when it
comes to costumes,
with
new 2019
licenses including Aquaman, Men
in Black, and Captain Marvel
characters. Those are the latest in
a long list of licenses. Popular lines
and licenses include Harry Potter,
Stranger Things, Where’s Waldo?,
and Star Wars characters as well as
Superman, Batman, Spider-Man,
and more.
Girls are going for Jojo Siwa costumes
with a nod to Nickelodeon and
DC Super Girls costumes including
Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Harley
Quinn, Poison Ivy and Batgirl.
For the family behind Rubie’s,
there’s no trick to their success.
The trick is obtaining the rights to
characters in demand and making
the right costumes at the right price.
After that, the business
is a treat — for
the company and its
customers around
the world.
Rubie’s has the rights to a huge
assortment of major superhero
costumes, including Batman.
(Photo by Mathilda Samuelsson)
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