All the world’s a stage

Alice Andolina transforms people for a living. When you walk into her Loveland shop, you do so because you want to be someone else or from a different time or place. Her wares are ones of wonder. Alice Andolina is a costumer — she sells imagination — and she is one of the last of her kind in Cincinnati.

Alice opened Costume Castle, a costume rental and sales store, located on Ward’s Corner Road in 1989. Let me start out by saying that Costume Castle should not be confused with Cappel’s or any other similar costume/party retail store that sells merchandise ordered through a catalog. Although Alice does have a section of pre-packaged costumes, the vast majority of her stock are either donations, some of which are vintage, or are designed and handmade by her or one of her staff.

She learned how to sew from her mother, Anna, who was a professional seamstress in Pittsburgh where Alice grew up. “My mother worked from home and used to make suits and outfits for musicians. I guess it’s in the blood,” Alice said. Alice’s sister retired from running her own costume shop in Pittsburgh not too long ago, confirming a particular genetic disposition.

Forged steel

Alice’s story starts in Pittsburgh’s Mount Troy neighborhood where she grew up. She was one of eight children, which was not uncommon for a working class Catholic neighborhood. Her father was a butcher at Kroger.

It didn’t surprise me to learn Alice was from Pittsburgh. As much as people love to hate the Steel City, it’s one of the toughest cities in America, and not in the way of senseless violence, but in character. Pittsburghers remind me of my own Cleveland stock; sturdy and rooted in a gritty soil. You can see it in Alice. She doesn’t look rough or anything, but tough behind the eyes if that makes sense, and naturally assertive.

About a mile away from Alice up on Troy Hill lived a boy named Richard; he was part Italian but still lived on the German side of town. Alice went to school with Richard and even dated his cousin in 7th grade, but they never even talked until the night they danced together at a bar near the University of Pittsburgh where they were both enrolled.

“I loved the way he danced and his personality. He was just fun to be around. I told my girlfriend the next day that some day I was going to marry him. She just laughed because at that time he was a real ladies man. All the girls liked him.”

Starting a family

While at Pitt, Alice studied library science and Richard studied psychology. After a few years of dating they would get married and have two boys, and after Rich found some difficulty turning profits with a psychology degree, he went into the insurance business. Insurance moved them around quite a bit. First they went to Erie, PA then California then Cincinnati then back to California, and finally back to Cincinnati in Anderson Township where they have been ever since.

Alice said that when they were in California the second time she managed the data processing for a surf-wear company and was working 70-90 hours per week. “When we moved back to Cincinnati, I didn’t want to do that anymore. Our boys were still young, and I wanted to spend more time with them,” Alice said, so she got a job at King’s Island making costumes.

Then she started doing contract work for a small costume shop in Camp Dennison called Clown Alley that she would eventually purchase to make it her own. A few months later she would move her newly acquired business to its current location on Wards Corner.

Working for herself

Business was good for Alice. While other costume shops were closing down, Costume Castle was growing. In fact, Alice bulked up her stock by buying out the remaining inventory of several local shops before they went under. Today Costume Castle is practically a superstore comprised of seven different stores and Alice says she has an inventory of approximately 100,000 costumes and accessories that are either on her sales racks or in storage.

Most of Alice’s business comes from costume rentals for high school and community theater productions. She estimates that she works with 90% of the schools in Cincinnati. Most of her clients are local, but she has costumed schools as far away as Alabama, Connecticut, and Maine.

For most of her 32 years in the business Alice would attend every rehearsal and performances for each performance she costumed. Today Alice focuses more on the plays she’s not familiar with. You can tell it’s more than just a business for Alice. “When I see my costumes on the stage, I get a big sense of pride for not only my own work, but for the work of my employees as well.”

The crew

I spoke with two of Alice’s workers at her shop. Morgan Schneider and Ana Maria Echeverria are both studying fashion design in the University of Cincinnati’s Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) program.

They were researching and taking measurements of a coat they found among Alice’s treasure trove of attire. With over 100,000 items to sift through, it’s not uncommon for them to find hidden gems like the vintage coat Ana was sizing up. “It’s probably from the 1960s,” Morgan said as she did some research online.

It must be a fashion student’s dream to have access to such a gold mine of possibilities. They truly never know what they are going to find when they fish through Alice’s stock. Ana told me about a paper dress they found last semester. “It was made from vintage yellow pages and sewn together,” Ana said. Alice donated that piece to a former worker who went on to open up her own shop downtown in Over-the-Rhine.

The coat Ana finished measuring will likely be posted for sale on Alice’s Etsy page, CostumeCastleVintage. Selling vintage finds online is a relatively new strategy for Alice to make a few bucks. It was an idea given to her recently by one of her former employees.

“I said go for it,” Alice said, “and they created the online store.” So far, she’s made about 50 sales and a few thousand dollars in the venture; anything to help offset the losses Alice suffered in 2020.

COVID

Anderson and Seven Hills did a few productions in the fall. They were virtual performances. Only 15 actors or so suited up to stream their scaled down dramas online. Normal full-scale shows in the fall typically dress 30 or more.

Springtime is normally Alice’s bread and butter. During a good spring, the musicals are in season and shows can blossom to the count of 50-60 productions, and each show will dress 60-70 different actors. But after the blight of COVID-19, Alice’s 2020 springtime productions were reduced to zero. Imagine that impact.

“When you’re dipping into retirement to pay the rent, it’s not good,” Alice said.

Now consider that Alice hasn’t raised her costume rental prices in 20 years! She knows the school theater programs have a limited budget and that sport programs get all the money. Alice says her husband has always been supportive, but he always joked that costuming is really just an expensive hobby for Alice. In 2020, the joke became a reality.

Alice and I talked about the struggles of the pandemic and how each of us were impacted by the spring shutdown and lingering restrictions. She pointed across the street to a lonely office building. “Look at how empty the parking lot is,” she said. “It used to be packed with employees, but everyone is working from home now. Down the street a Subway had to close down because there’s no more lunchtime rush.”

Alice went on to explain further: “I haven’t had a show in 8 months, but I’m not the only one who suffers from that. My dry cleaning expenses normally run about $7,000 per year,” Alice said, “but since I’ve had practically no shows I haven’t taken anything to be cleaned, so that’s $7,000 less income for my dry cleaner.”

I never thought about how the effects of the pandemic would pass from one service to the next like that. It’s clearly a delicate ecosystem, and it all trickles down.

“I appreciate that people concentrate so much on supporting restaurants and bars,” Alice said. “But what about the other businesses?”

We talked about how hard it was to be considered non-essential during the shutdown. On the surface it made sense, of course. Nobody needs a costume or a picture taken of them to live. Stores like The Home Depot and Lowe’s were essential in the sense that supplies were available for essential fixes and repairs, but anyone who shopped at either store during the shutdown can attest that the vast majority of customers weren’t lined up around the corner to replace a hot water tank or repair their plumbing. Almost everyone was redecorating and upgrading their kitchens and bathrooms. It was hard to swallow that kind of hypocrisy as we watched business disappear. And nobody questioned it.

Nobody knows what 2021 will bring, but just be mindful of the ecosystem. It all trickles down and on a large enough scale, we are all downstream.

Better days ahead

Alice has faith that the vaccine will help loosen restrictions. Some schools have already been in contact with her about spring performances. They are all planned to be virtual at this time, but that is still better than nothing.

It’s been a rough year for Alice, but perhaps nothing a girl from Steel City can’t handle. As I watched her work at her sewing machine quietly near the front window; that empty office building she pointed to earlier looming just ahead; I noticed the picture of Pope John Paul II on display in front of her, then one of Saint Margaret Clitherow. I knew then that Alice would be okay. Her faith for a better year, whatever that truly means for her, comes from a higher place and is reinforced by something stronger than steel alone.

If you would like to support Alice, take the kids and pay her a visit. Her shop alone is interesting enough to entertain the little ones. There is no shortage of wonder to behold. And contrary to what so many think, Ward’s Corner is not far from Anderson.  It’s maybe 15 minutes up 275 from Beechmont and her store is right off the highway. No need to drive all around Loveland. 

So what if your kids turned off the TV and unplugged the iPads for a night to put on a show for mom and dad? Maybe instead of YouTube, a knight can rescue a princess or a sheriff can chase down some outlaws right in your family room.

When you get there tell them you heard about Costume Castle from Beechmont Stories and you’ll get 10% off any sale item.  Check out the gallery below to see some of her shop.

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Did you miss my last article, A Million Little Things? If so, you can check it out here. Or check out a similar article on a local taxidermist, here.

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