Trick-or-treating is totally different for kids living in NYC - here's what it's like
First off, daytime trick or treating is all the rage in NYC. One shop told us kids begin arriving as early as 9 a.m.
And because most buildings are private residencies you need to be buzzed into, kids go instead to the stores located on the street-level.
This is the back office of a custom-tailoring shop. The owner told me the super of the apartment building above the store coordinated with her. "The super tells me what time, so I'm getting little bags ready."
She hand-tied bags of candy corn, and put them in decorative pouches along with some other goodies. At least 21 kids from the building were expected between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
We quickly learned the main avenues (Lexington, Third, Madison) held most of the action. Kids were literally going into every store, checking for candy.
Gyms, dry-cleaners, chain restaurants — nothing was out of the realm of possibility.
Yami works at a candy store. It was a very popular stop for kids and adults alike. By 2:30 p.m., she had re-filled that bucket "like four times already!” Kids had the choice of three pieces each.
It's common to see an assigned employee at the store's entrance, ready and waiting for trick or treaters. Another owner of a frozen yogurt and candy store told us "[that employee] is working a special today, just for Halloween."
Ricardo, right, is a lifelong New Yorker, and thinks Halloween has changed. “It's very, very different now," he told INSIDER. "Before you saw a whole bunch of people outside, everything was so festive, now I feel like everything is slowing down a lot.”
The shoe store he works in had seven bags of candy prepared. Ricardo said peak time for them was 11:30 to 5 p.m., "because then kids go to hit up apartment buildings."
The residential streets of the Upper East Side contain a lot of brownstones (multi-floor row houses, usually with stoops or staircases). Some owners of these properties decorate for the holiday.
This is where the trick-or-treating experience is probably the most "normal."
If kids see pumpkins on the stoops, they know to go ahead and ring the doorbell for some treats.
Seventy-eighth street has earned a reputation for decorated townhouses that hand out candy.
Popular NYC mom-resource "Mommy Poppins" described 78th street as the "go-to" spot for Upper East Side trick or treaters.
Source: MommyPoppins
The building staff in some larger apartment complexes really work to make the day special. In a 2011 DNAinfo article, Amy Zimmer explained "besides townhouses, tenants in doorman buildings chip in for candy that their doormen hand out to kids on the street."
Source: DNAinfo
This building's staff turns their entire lobby into a haunted house. "Every year for the last fifteen years," the doorman said. "The kids all come down at the same time."
Back on the busy avenues, more and more families were out starting around 4 p.m.
One hardware store owner advised me to "stick near the train stations," because families will take the subway into the areas they know have good trick or treating.
Two Dunkin' Donuts locations I checked gave out Halloween-themed munchkins to kids. And me.
Other stores kept it simple. Xiomara, right, said it was a slow day, business-wise, but they had one bucket of candy on hand. "As soon as it's out, we're done." The fun has to stop sometime.
The co-owner of this toy store, Steve, gave children a choice of either one piece of candy or a small toy.
Even the trendy glasses store Warby Parker was participating, with a large vase of candy in their front entrance.
"It used to be where they would bus [kids] down from uptown, that was like 10, 11 years ago," the owner of this liquor store said. "Now it's just the neighborhood kids ... they don’t necessarily know that a liquor store would have candy.” They bought 200 Tootsie Pops.
!["It used to be where they would bus [kids] down from uptown, that was like 10, 11 years ago," the owner of this liquor store said. "Now it](https://staticbiassets.in/thumb/msid-55133027,width-700,height-525,imgsize-190004/it-used-to-be-where-they-would-bus-kids-down-from-uptown-that-was-like-10-11-years-ago-the-owner-of-this-liquor-store-said-now-its-just-the-neighborhood-kids-they-dont-necessarily-know-that-a-liquor-store-would-have-candy-they-bought-200-tootsie-pops-.jpg)
By 4:45 p.m., handwritten signs could be spotted on small businesses like this nail salon.
A local pizza shop ran out, too.
But Cooper was okay without candy — he was on the way to a Halloween dog parade.
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