After years of not quite shutting down, the Timid Rabbit Magic and Masquerade Shop is closing for real this year, according to the owner of the 35-year-old business.
The Timid Rabbit sells costumes, props, theater equipment like special projectors, magic items and much more. Antoni Gerard has owned and operated the shop at its Main Street location in Kalamazoo since 1990. But before, Gerard had a smaller store in another town.
“I opened up December 1973. That was up in Gaylord, Michigan. And at that time it wasn't a costume shop. It was just magic.”
Every corner of the little store is filled with handmade costumes. Most are well-worn and some stained from years of use. Many were made by Gerard, who says he’s also done work for TV.
“I remember years ago I got a call from Cartoon Network. They needed a pizza-delivering, skydiving fish. I did that.”
Gerard also spoke fondly about what he called "the most interesting request of his career" — when the soap opera "The Young and the Restless" called him with a request to make a "giant talking bloody bank-robbing squirrel".
"I said, 'Who is this really?' They said – 'No, this is the soap opera, The Young and the Restless!' 'And you need a giant talking bloody bank robbing squirrel?' I went, ‘Yeah, I can do that,'” Gerard said.
Actually, according to Soaps.com, it was a giant bank-robbing chipmunk that appeared in an infamous storyline of "The Young and the Restless".
On a crisp October day the week before Halloween, 72-year old Gerard was tucked behind a case of prop guns, working on a custom order. He said it was a “witch doctor staff” – it featured a skull on top surrounded by hair.
“And this is actually 100% human hair,” Gerard said.
Items like the staff show the store’s uniqueness but also its age. The way Gerard puts it, some of the costumes aren’t politically correct. Others might call at least some of them offensive. In any case, the shop has it all.
Originally from the Netherlands, Gerard moved to Holland, Michigan with his family at age four and opened his first shop at age 20. It transitioned from a magic-only shop to selling costumes after he began an experimental foray into renting costumes.
"The magic didn't start until about a year later when I got some costumes and one of my suppliers sent me a Halloween catalog. And I looked through it and it's like I'm a magic shop, not a Halloween shop. But I saw a couple things that I wanted to get," he said.
He eventually moved his operations to Kalamazoo, and The Timid Rabbit as it's known today was born. For years, Gerard and his wife, Laura, have been a fixture at the shop. Vince Carroll also works at the Timid Rabbit helping customers pick out the perfect costume.
“I worked in a deli for a year and a half and that was just like painful, like excruciating. You know, like now I'm in the Halloween store, I love it whenever I get to work here. Just walking through the aisles, looking at everything, helping the customers, like it's a blast," Carroll said.
It used to be a rental-only shop — now, customers have to buy. That’s because, as Gerard closes down The Timid Rabbit for good, he's selling off all its inventory. As an artist who makes original costumes and props, Gerard says it’s time for him to get back to his craft full-time.
"The brick and mortar store is what's closing. I have over 700 items that I created that I will continue to manufacture. Anything from masks and mascots to leather products," Gerard said.
Gerard said this truly is the end. The racks are still full — but he says it’s only a fraction of what his inventory used to be.
“Even years ago I had over 30,000 costumes, but we sold probably at least 80% of them so far since we started to scale back and started to close," Gerard said.
He said it takes time to close a business like this without losing too much revenue. Costume and novelty shops don’t necessarily have high demand year-round, so it can be tough to clear out. It’s why he’s hoping for a big push this Halloween season. Everything is marked down, and Carroll is helping with the closeout.
“Tony's going to have me start selling everything in the store after Halloween online," Carroll said.
After Halloween, the store will begin cutting back hours and Carroll will start listing items on sites like Depop, Grailed and Facebook Marketplace. At the end of the year, it will be closed for good. Gerard said he’ll still be available by appointment for bulk sales. He’s hoping to sell whatever’s left of his inventory to theater groups, reenactors and other hobbyists.
From Halloween through Christmas, Gerard said he also has a plan to sell the store's non-costume items.
“The downstairs actually gets converted into a store we call The Possibility Store through December, " Gerard said. "It's a collector's shop. If you collect anything, I probably have some.”
Gerard said he’ll miss running the shop, but he’s excited to throw himself into his work. And he said he’ll never stop thinking up ideas for other people’s costumes.
“Thank you, Kalamazoo, for your support. I still get choked up a little bit when I say it 'cuz I love doing what I'm doing, but there are so many other things that I want to do," Gerard said. "It's because of the people in Kalamazoo that I say thank you.”
