Hot Topic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the Le Tigre song, see Hot Topic (Song).
| Hot Topic, Inc. | |
 |
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| Type | Public (NASDAQ: HOTT) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1988 by Orv Madden |
| Headquarters | City of Industry, California |
| Key people | Betsy McLaughlin, CEO; Bruce Quinell, Chairman of the Board |
| Industry | retail |
| Products | clothing, accessories, music |
| Revenue | US$ 725,142,000 (FY '05) |
| Website | www.hottopic.com |
Hot Topic (NASDAQ: HOTT) is an American company that operates chain stores aimed at teenagers and young adults. It has over 600 chain stores across the United States and Puerto Rico, the majority of which are located in shopping malls. The first Hot Topic store was opened in 1988 by Orv Madden. The chain specializes in pop-culture-related fashion and merchandise, including clothing, books, comics, jewelry, CDs, records, posters and other paraphernalia. It caters to a number of youth-oriented alternative cultures, such as Indie, punk, emo, club, otaku and lounge, as well as a number of general and 1980s retro pop culture products. It has also backed major concert festivals like Ozzfest and recently Sounds Of The Underground. Products from Tripp NYC, Lip Service, Funhouse, and Jinx are also stocked.
In the past, major bands such as Korn and Good Charlotte have allowed Hot Topic to release their concert wear to the general public before they themselves appear on television or at concerts wearing them. Recently Hot Topic has held in store "listening parties" for bands such as Underoath and My Chemical Romance, so fans could hear their new albums before they were released. Hot Topic has also been a promoter of Jhonen Vasquez and his various projects, including Invader Zim, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and "Squee".
Although the store's slogan is "Everything about the music", many products in the store are not directly connected to music, causing some to challenge the validity of the slogan. However, the store's backbone remains its music apparel. The company's best-performing department is music tee shirts, which range from classic rock, alternative rock, nu-metal, metal, indie rock, and more. Additionally, many Hot Topic stores have full CD departments and carry select vinyl albums. Depending on store locations, contract restrictions with malls, and store sizes, some stores are only able to sell select vinyl and compilation albums. Although the store sells certain items, such as bumper stickers that read "support your local band", it is company policy not to allow local artists to post flyers announcing their upcoming shows or gigs on windows. However, they are free to leave flyers with members of management and at point-of-sale locations (i.e., cash registers and counters), as long as the marketing paraphernalia is not vulgar, lewd, or profane. The stores also have "Tour Dates Books" - a binder for local bands to post their flyers, demos, and promotional materials. Moreover, some Hot Topic stores do sell local band merchandise, and the company spotlights up-and-coming bands in the "Neighborhood Noise" program of their website.
Hot Topic owns and operates a chain of similarly-themed plus-size women's clothing stores, Torrid, which began operations in 2001. The company produces its own line of clothing, Morbid Threads, whose products may be found in both chains' stores. Hot Topic also operates several "Hot Topic Rock" locations, which specialize only in music-related merchandise, feature a larger CD and vinyl selection, DJ equipment such as turntables, and harder to find licensed band apparel.
Hot Topic was named number 53 on Fortune 100's Top Companies to Work For list in 2006.
Hot Topic's major rivals in its niche include Spencer's Gifts, Pacific Sunwear, and Zumiez.
[edit] Criticism
In their marketing, Hot Topic uses rebellious imagery in an effort to appeal to teenagers' "rebellious" tendencies, a practice which its critics deride. Since the early 2000s, Hot Topic has been increasingly perceived as a "poseur" store, and some counterculture (goth, punk, hardcore, Otaku etc.) consumers refrain from shopping there. Members of a counterculture tend to resent the appropriation of the trappings of their subculture as commodities for mainstream consumption. In this vein, recording artist MC Lars has released a song titled "Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock." Ironically, The Matches, who provide the music background to the song, have toured with a Hot Topic sponsored tour in the past. Hot Topic acknowledged the song by instructing stores to devote a small area of the stores to display products mentioned in the song, carrying MC Lars' album 'The Graduate', and playing the song in the store.
