PORTAGE PARK — No matter what disguise you want, or when you want it, there's a good chance Fantasy Costumes can produce it for you.
The costume superstore, just off the Six Corners Shopping District at 4065 N. Milwaukee Ave., proudly boasts a cool million items for sale. And until Halloween, it's open 24 hours a day.
Those overnight hours come in handy for more people than you might expect, employee Frank Roberts said.
"We get a lot of the bar crowd coming in at 4 a.m., all worried because they forgot to get a costume this year," Roberts said. "Lucky for them, we don't run out."
Fantasy Costumes boasts a million items in stock, including 20,000 wigs and hairpieces. [DNAinfo/Alex Nitkin]
Those last-minute shoppers can take a tour through time as well as space, starting in the "historical" section stretching from Jesus Christ to Richard Simmons. Then come the cartoon characters, with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lined up alongside Yoshi and Sammy the douche from the movie "Sausage Party." After that are the horror characters, the sci-fi staples, the political masks.
And that's just one corner of the store.
Sweeping his eyes across a full rainbow's display of sequined hats, Gorge Melo couldn't tell where to start.
"I mean I heard about this place, I heard you could get anything here," said Melo, a nightclub promoter from Schaumburg making his first-ever visit to the store. "But this is really impressive. I don't think I've seen anything like this."
Maybe Melo would go for the "disco man" outfit, he said. "I'd look pretty good with an afro," he chuckled, running his hand along his bald head.
The store had what Melo was looking for, but it wouldn't make his choice any easier. The wig room, he'd learn, kept more than 20,000 weaves, wigs, hairpieces and toupees.
When owner George Garcia opened Fantasy Costumes in 1967, the wig room was all there was. Since then, managers said, he's periodically absorbed surrounding storefronts and knocked down walls, adding vast new sections to the store.
Today, Fantasy Costumes takes up an entire city block, spanning more than 10,000 square feet.
Fantasy Costumes, 4065 N. Milwaukee Ave., takes up an entire city block in the Six Corners Shopping District. [DNAinfo/Alex Nitkin]
If Melo wanted, he could arrange a meeting with the store's on-site wig stylist, who cuts and shapes custom pieces for each head.
But there's one section he wouldn't be allowed to check out. The "sexy room," walled off at the far end of the store, posts a sign over the door that reads "NO MEN ALLOWED."
That's where Loran Henderson works.
"You've got your sexy waitress, your sexy firefighter, naughty nurse ... y'know, all the classics," Henderson tallied off her inventory, pointing to shelf upon shelf of short skirts, fishnets and leather bodices. She wore a furry snow leopard-print hat, her hands planted on a glass case with plastic breasts and other adult items.
"But the biggest seller this year has got to be Harley Quinn," the heroine of the 2016 summer blockbuster "Suicide Squad," Henderson said.
The store's "kids room" stocks hundreds of costumes of various sizes. [DNAinfo/Alex Nitkin]
Roberts figured that Quinn could be the store's hottest overall seller, but the myriad "Star Wars" characters have also made a thundering comeback, thanks to the franchise reboot that kicked off with "The Force Awakens" last year.
"'Star Wars' is always popular, every year, all year long," Roberts said.
October may be the busiest time of year for Fantasy Costumes, but it never closes for a season. Whether it's birthday parties or themed business events, the store never runs out of people looking to transform themselves.
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