After 35 years, Masters Tuxedo and Costumes on Columbia Pike in Annandale is closing shop. Until the end of this month, wigs, costumes, mascots, and other whackiness are going out the door for 75 percent off their original costs.

Although a touch picked over, there are still choice items to be had and tried on until the electricity in your hair can power up your iPod. As far as big-head mascots, what’s left includes “Teletubbies, Winnie the Pooh…we have some bunnies, a lot of animals,” says Luke, a manager who did not want to give his last name. Bert and Ernie heads, he confirmed, are still there.

Costumes that had been rented and are now for sale include ’70s stuff, flapper outfits, original-style Star Trek gear. “We’re pretty much out of the medieval and colonial stuff,” Luke says, indicating the Ren-festers and William & Mary kids have already been through.

Luke’s worked there for five years and is losing his job. “But we’ve known about it since November,” he says. The other store in Arlington on South Four Mile Run is already closed. And in Annandale, there’s a new tenant lined up. Apparently Taekwando, unlike ‘fro wigs, is recession-proof.

Photo courtesy of the Masters Costumes Web site.