Disguise the Limit costume shop in Santa Rosa closing after 43 years

Popular costume rental and accessory shop Disguise the Limit is hanging up its hat after 43 years of business.

The downtown Santa Rosa favorite has been a one-stop shop for costumes, makeup and accessories for Halloween or any event that involves getting dressed up.

Artist and crafter Jenny DeYoung has owned the Fourth Street location for the last seven years and has made it her passion project. She would spend late nights sewing custom orders and working on ways to make it feel like more than just a costume shop.

“Times have changed and everything has gone up (in price) and honestly, seven years of this stress has been really hard on my family,” DeYoung said. “I’m at the place where I don’t have any more fight left in me.”

Multiple factors led up to the shop’s closure — from the pandemic recovery to leasing fears and economic uncertainty. But one of the main reasons, DeYoung said, stems from decreased foot traffic, accessible parking and the lack of tourist exposure to Railroad Square.

DeYoung said there have been efforts to bring more people to the area, like putting up lights in Depot Park and attempts to restart nearby farmers markets, but DeYoung said these efforts have been met with nothing but roadblocks.

“The location here is really poor in the sense that the division of Fourth Street in Santa Rosa really confuses the tourists and hurts our local economy,” DeYoung said. “There’s no promotion of this area.”

DeYoung has been the owner of Disguise the Limit since 2016 and had since turned the costume shop into an experience space. She’s held hat-decorating classes and booked out the location’s Haunted Couture Room for a “Book of the Dead” themed photo shoot.

The shop celebrated its resilience through the pandemic, leasing fears and fires with a grand re-opening in October 2022 to ramp up for a busy Halloween season.

But these efforts could only do so much before DeYoung had to call it.

“It’s the big (uprising) of Amazon and big-box stores,” she said. “Everything has gone up in price and I cannot price match or sell products cheaper.”

Vicente Cruz wears a costume every holiday — from a bunny on Easter to a turkey for Thanksgiving.

He’s been a customer of Disguise the Limit for 10 years. There have been other costume shops he would frequent, but Disguise the Limit was always his go-to, he said.

“I’m really saddened about the store closing because it became my favorite costume store,” he said. “I got some of my best stuff from there.”

Disguise the Limit’s final day is still to be determined, but there’s a current going-out-of-business sale on everything, including the furniture display stands, with discounts on festival wear, packaged costumes, jewelry, wigs and more.

DeYoung will still create bright, colorful festival costumes for her fashion brand JenDee Designs. She applied what she’s learned from owning and running Disguise the Limit to grow that brand.

“I believe when one door closes, another one that’s even bigger and better opens with something even more fantastical and amazing,” she said. “I think I had an iron grip on this store for so long and I couldn’t fathom the idea of losing it. Now I think it’s letting me go.”

You can reach Staff Writer Sara Edwards at 707-521-5487 or sara.edwards@pressdemocrat. com. On Twitter @sedwards380.