HALLOWEEN IS RIGHT around the corner, leaving us with barely enough time to procure costumes. While some may already be parading around in fancy getup, many Uni students may not have found the time to even bother with the macabre holiday.

Do not despair — there is still time to quickly put together some accessories and knick-knacks and call it a costume. Read on and learn about a few stores in town that will lead you to costume success!

The king of Halloween stores: Dallas & Co.

Dressed-up mannequins line up right outside the doorway to costume rentals at Dallas & Co. Gargoyle photo by Elizabeth Allen (click to enlarge)

The main room of Dallas & Co, where things are stacked high to the ceiling. Gargoyle photo by Elizabeth Allen (click to enlarge)

As I enter through a doorway decorated with fake hula skirt grass, I smell a faint scent of smoke lingering in the air, and I am hit with the most outrageously chaotic room I have ever seen since last Halloween.

Welcome to the only specialty shop in the area open year-round for costumes, novelties, and miscellaneous objects: Dallas & Co, the famous store located in downtown Champaign at 101 E. University Ave.

With extended hours the day before and on Halloween, the store features ready-made costumes available for baby to adult, in both sexes.

However, teenagers might want to consider buying parts for their costumes as accessories. Wigs in all different colors and sizes, face paints, masks, and even costume rentals are available.

The store does not have any systematic organization, although items for one type of costume are occasionally grouped together.

Dallas & Co is your one-stop shop for quick Halloween costume making, and if you have time for only one store, this is the place to go.

No matter what you want to be, the store will have something for your needs. Just be sure to ask for help, because finding things can be difficult.

All sales are final, and be wary of prices; since Dallas & Co is a specialty store, be prepared to pay a little more than what the item is worth.

Run of the mill: Halloween USA

Open only during the month of October, Halloween USA is a precariously put-together store of shelves and stock.

Located at 606 W. Anthony Drive in north Champaign, it carries premade costumes, accessories, house decorations, and miscellaneous objects related to Halloween.

Fitting rooms are available, and you should ask for help finding things, as items have usually been scattered about in the rush right before Halloween.

The store is good for putting a standard costume together, with all the conventional trappings you might need for your one-night transformation.

If you've already chosen your basic costume, Halloween USA carries plenty of accessories besides the usual masks. You'll find an assortment of rings, necklaces, makeup, nails, eyelashes, fangs, cuts and bruises, tattoos, chains, beards, and mustaches.

And if you've decided to throw a Halloween party but are in need of decorations, the store sells cob webs, window clings, hovering ghosts, lighted pumpkins, bats and spiders — all the trimmings necessary for a good frightfest.

in terms of cost, Halloween USA offers a "price-match guarantee" — the store guarantees to match locally advertised prices on new and identical items at the time of purchase.

Getting wacky: Le Shoppe and Carrie's

If you want a truly unique costume and have a little more time to put it together, consider going to some thrift and second-hand shops like Le Shoppe or Carrie's in downtown Champaign.

Le Shoppe, which is across the street from Dallas & Co. at 110 E. University, has an array of some of the most peculiar clothes I've seen.

Vintage suits, sparkling blue shoes, and even a purple jumpsuit hang from walls too covered to see. Hats and sunglasses are sprinkled throughout, and fitting rooms are available.

Jewelry and accessories are stacked in little piles on the counters, where you might find some great pieces to give your costume a different feel.

Carrie's, located at 204 N. Neil St. (close to the Cowboy Monkey), is a second-hand shop with even more vintage and distinctive pieces of clothes, hats, shoes, and jewelry.

The store is organized into decades, so if you are considering dressing up as a blast from the past, look here for some authentic clothes.

Neither store has a Web site, so if you want to learn more about what they have to offer before venturing out, you can call them them at 398-1520 (Le Shoppe) and 352-3231 (Carrie's).