RETAIL ROUNDUP:

COSTA MESA — The Grant Boys store on Newport Boulevard has a sign out this week advertising Halloween costumes — but don’t think the outdoors supply store, which specializes in guns, camping and fishing equipment, is stocking its shelves with Capt. Jack Sparrow outfits.

Instead, the costumes available are the most authentic cowboy and military getups in town. Grant Boys sells rugged outdoor clothing all year round, and the Halloween season offers another incentive to peruse the store’s sales racks.

Newport Boulevard typically turns into Halloween central in October, with stores up and down the block offering costumes, and Grants got into the act recently with a sign outside that lures holiday shoppers.

General Manager Jack Carver said the early fall season brought Grant Boys some of its best sales, in part due to Halloween and in part due to the cold weather — although the soot in the air from nearby wildfires had put a bit of a damper on that one.

“We have a surge [in sales], but this time of year, we usually sell more anyway because the weather is changing,” Carver said. “Well, it’s usually changing. It hasn’t this week.”

Grant Boys’ authentic costume collection includes cowboy Stetson hats — with materials from straw to fur — as well as bolo ties, striped cotton and denim shirts, boots, bandannas and even holsters, which some Halloween shoppers purchase to hold replica guns.

The store also stocks a number of military outfits, some of them surplus items provided by the Army.

Call Grant Boys at (949) 645-3400 for more information.

Plaza to raise money for less fortunate

South Coast Plaza, renowned as one of the top luxury shopping centers in California, has a program this fall to raise money for some of the area’s least fortunate residents. For the seventh year in a row, the mall will partner with the charity Angelitos de Oro to divert funds to Big Brothers Big Sisters, which pairs boys and girls with adult role models.

From Nov. 1-6, stores throughout South Coast Plaza will offer 20% off certain products if the buyer has an Angelitos Card. A total of 113 stores in the mall, including Banana Republic, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and the Wolfgang Puck Cafe, have volunteered for the drive this year.

Customers can purchase Angelitos Cards, which cost $60, by calling (949) 642-9883 or visiting www.angelitosdeoro.org.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.