MATT ROBLES/Arizona Daily Wildcat With Halloween around the corner, students will find themselves needing costumes, and some of the most interesting ones can be found on Fourth Avenue. Many stores on Fourth that cater to costume buyers are now staying open later to accommodate just that need.

For the busy Halloween season, vintage and clothing stores along North Fourth Avenue are staying open later and switching out their regular inventory for costumes.

Like a lot of students, Logan Christie, undeclared freshman, said she goes costume hunting the week before Halloween, which means big business for North Fourth Avenue stores within walking distance of the UA.

Christie said she was "looking for different things" Friday at Desert Vintage, 636 N. Fourth Ave.

"I'm looking for something to wear to a Halloween-themed date dash," she said.

Kathleen Lauth, the owner of Desert Vintage for 30 years, said the Halloween season is "definitely the biggest time of the year for us."

Lauth said women who shop at Desert Vintage are mostly interested in the flapper dresses, but the belly dancer, poodle and '70s disco outfits are popular too.

"Men love the gangster era," Lauth said. "They like the Greek thing too."

The collection available at Desert Vintage is available for both sale and rent.

Rental rates are usually around $25, but can increase depending of the number of pieces.

Lauth said a patriot costume, with frock coat, knickers, vest and ruffled shirt front can run $38 for a one-day rental, for instance.

Everything at Desert Vintage can be bought outright for usually twice the rental price, she said.

How Sweet It Was, 419 N. Fourth Ave., is another vintage clothing store down the street from Desert Vintage for those with slightly different tastes and deeper pockets.

Rentals there run between $30 and $45.

"Many of the rentals are authentic," said Susan Foster, an employee at How Sweet It Was. "We (also) get things from theater (companies) so they're very well-made and believable."

How Sweet It Was offers musketeer garb, Renaissance attire, saloon girl styles, sexy witch robes and a large Victorian era collection.

"(We have) lots of fancy dress from the '30s, '40s, '50s, '70s and '80s," Foster said.

"For men, you know, there's leather chaps, and it's got a gun in the holster too," she said. "And we do tuxes, and the zoot suits I guess are always popular," Foster said.

"And there's the mariachi but it's very small," Foster said.

Jameson Smith, mechanical engineering sophomore, was at the Tucson Vintage Shop and The Other Side hunting for accessories to complete his costume – Aragorn from "Lord of the Rings."

"I'm kind of like going up and down (the street), looking for bits and pieces," Smith said.

The Other Side and the Tucson Vintage Shop are located on 319 N. Fourth Ave. and offer hats, bagged costumes, thrifty vintage attire and various wigs on white mannequin heads shelved along the walls.

Francisco Campista, visual communications junior, stumbled into The Other Side looking for a costume.

"Where we are? I have no clue," Campista said. "I just walked in. I just walked down Fourth."

He said he was looking for a costume to wear for an all-weekend house party.

"I want to be like a pachuco, sort of like a zoot-suiter," Campista said. "I want to be so many things. I not sure which one yet."

Across the street from these two stores at 338 N. Fourth Ave. is Kanella's, which features a collection of motorcycle leathers and accessories.

"I would actually call it very 'rock-n-roll,'" said Jessica Starrett, a Kanella's employee.

Kanella's switches in a special Halloween inventory for the season, though Kanella's has different offerings compared to the other Fourth Avenue clothing stores.

"It's one time where (the girls) can be a little bit sexier and get away with it," Starrett said. "We also have pimp suits. No one else has pimp suits around here."

Starrett said Kanella's clientele consists of a lot of students in fraternities and sororities.

"We do a lot of their date dashes," she said. "We love them here though. We love them to death here."

Allie Pound, undeclared freshman and Pi Beta Phi member, said, "I'm just looking for something cute but not too slutty."

Most of the stores on North Fourth Avenue will be open for extended hours through Halloween.