Center Stage costume shop in downtown Cedar Rapids closing

CEDAR RAPIDS - RanDee Hupp will miss the army jackets, poodle skirts, flapper dresses, and gorilla suits.

Center Stage, a Cedar Rapids business which has been renting costumes for over 50 years, is calling it quits at the end of April. Hupp recently began liquidating the store's inventory of about 10,000 costumes.

“It is a terrible feeling to do this,” Hupp said.

The market has not been kind to independent costume sales and rental businesses for several years, Hupp said. Costume stores have been closing across the nation as a growing number of consumers bought costumes cheaply from Internet e-tailers, seasonal Halloween stores, or large discount stores.

“Even Hy-Vee sells Halloween costumes now,” Hupp said.

RanDee and her husband, Tom Hupp, acquired the store at 420 2nd Ave. SE in 2005 from . The store escaped physical damage from the record Cedar River flood of June 2008 that devastated most of downtown Cedar Rapids, but the worst was yet to come. A lack of electricity forced the store to close for about one month, but even after it reopened, customers to stay away for months in the belief that it was closed along with most of the other downtown businesses.

Business has improved, but the recession has reduced the flow as consumers and businesses watched their spending carefully.

“Businesses have stopped having Christmas parties because they cost too much,” RanDee said.

Local theater groups that rented costumes will miss Center Stage.

At Jefferson High School, drama coach Lee Jenkins said it's no longer possible to borrow costumes from Theatre Cedar Rapids and The Follies because their theater groups lost their costumes in the June 2008 flood.

“Quite a few of our resources have dried up, and this is just one more resource that's drying up,” Jenkins said.

Center Stage had mostly gotten out of the business of renting costumes for an entire production. Jenkins said she'll probably rely more heavily now on Curtain's Up Costumes in Keota. That business, ironically, came close to losing its costumes last year in a major fire which resulted in extensive smoke and water damage to its collection.

Hupp plans to stop renting costumes at Center Stage at the end of February. Most of the costumes will be sold for the equivalent of a one-day rental charge, with more expensive costumes selling for up to three times the daily rental charge. Retail merchandise will be sold for half price.

Lori Hammes, who works at Curtain's Up in Keota, said that costume company is looking to rent or build a 10,000-square-foot space to replace its building damaged by fire last year. Business owner Janie Westendorf, Hammes' mother, has been using her home to perform costume fittings, Hammes said.

Hammes said Curtain's Up has been insulated from the retailing competition facing costume shops because it doesn't sell at retail.