Just two years after their grand opening, Chandler horror-themed retailer Terror Trader married co-owners Jason and Gina Swarr have created a safe haven for year-round scares.
“It doesn’t have to be Halloween,” Jason says. “People get together to watch and celebrate horror and the spooky season. It’s a communal thing and I just really love that.”
The horror genre transcends generations, appealing to people of all ages. Jason says his 19 year old daughter and her friends love to enjoy snacks and a scary movie with the lights off, just like he did when he first discovered them.
“I was 11 years old at a video store,” he says. “The guy working there grabbed a VHS of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and I watched it by myself. It changed my life. I was so frightened but the energy you get from a horror movie is like nothing else.”
Squeezed into a strip mall in between a grocery store and a nail salon, Terror Trader looks just like any other unassuming storefront. Life-sized displays of clowns, ghouls and ax-wielding murderers greet customers as they walk inside, evoking the sense that they’ve stepped into a different realm. The store’s walls and shelves are shaped as life sized coffins, boasting local art and merchandise for horror fans. This can be anything from band t-shirts, to keychains to horror flicks on VHS. Jason’s personal collection has its own room, filled with haunted dolls, ouija boards and other historical artifacts.
Jason calls the store a “horror marketplace” that supports local artists and vendors. The marketplace has around 70 vendors currently selling their wares in-store, and more than 60 vendors on the waitlist, pining after a coffin in the store to call their own.
Melody Smith has been a showcased artist at Terror Trader since its inception in October 2021.
“I always loved the classic horror movies,” she says. “When I heard they were opening, I showed them some samples of my work and got in right when the store opened.”
Smith also teaches art classes at a local high school, and Terror Trader has been able to offer field trips and showcases for her students.
“It’s been really great for the kids,” Smith says. “It’s such a popular genre. Who knew horror had this big cult following in Arizona?”
Unlike the Spirit Halloween superstores that seem to pop up in every unused retail space once September rolls around, Terror Trader stays put year–round. Subbing Santa hats for jack– o’–lanterns Terror Trader hosts conventions for horror fans during December with their “Christmas to Dismember” event, as well as the “Gathering of the Ghouls” in August.
“Our five year plan was to hold a convention,” Jason says. “But after two years, we’ve already had to grow into the Mesa Convention Center… We’re hiring two different actors to play Krampus because we put almost 10,000 people through our Gathering of the Ghouls in a day and a half.”
941 W. Elliot Rd., Chandler, 480-590-3481, terrortrader.com
