North Mankato company is behind the magic of Halloween costumes worldwide

One of the largest online costume companies in the world is located in North Mankato, Minnesota.

HalloweenCostumes.com designs and delivers year-round.

"My mom was a seamstress. She made these amazing costumes," Tom Fallenstein said.

When Fallenstein was a kid, his mom, Jenice, made him a Halloween costume that changed his life.

"I got to be Super Mario 3 when that came out that year and I was the coolest kid at school," Fallenstein said.

Not long after, the family began renting out their hand-made costumes. Demand became so high that in 2001, Fallenstein opened an online store and started selling around the world.

"We went from my mom's house to 10,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet. Now we're at over 500,000 square feet," Fallenstein said.

Every inch of that space is needed. During peak October days, they'll take 120,000 orders. That's like putting a costume on every fan inside U.S. Bank Stadium and Target Field combined.

They also create their own animatronics. Licensing rights allow them to build Hollywood monsters and mad men, like Heath Ledger's Joker.  

It's a unique place. Employee get-togethers can even take place inside the Death Star.

"If we're going to meet for meetings, we might as well make it fun," Fallenstein said.

But the costumes are the crown jewel.

There are 40 rows in the warehouse, and each row has as many as 20,000 Halloween costumes. That's a lot and it's not even counting the ones in the back.

"Instead of a standard-size costume, we actually carry from infant all the way to 8XL in some costumes," Fallenstein said.

The warehouse is so big that the constant sound of beeps and whistles can be heard as forklifts and workers on scooters zip by.

"If you're trying to get your job done quicker, this is the best way to do it," Arctral Gibson, an employee, said. 

There are the usual suspects when it comes to costumes, and then there are the unusual. The more random the request, the more fun it is to create.

"'Mom, I want to be macaroni and cheese.' They're like, ' Oh man, where am I going to get that?' We solve that problem too," Fallenstein said. "You get to be that character. You get to be that thing that you love."

Justin Bieber and Jason Kelce are some of the celebrities that have worn Fallenstein's costumes.

He said they take more orders during one day in October than the entire month of June.