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Shopping Centers Today -> April 2001
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HOT TOPIC LAUNCHES SPIN-OFF CONCEPT FOR PLUS-SIZE TEENS
By Kimberly Pfaff
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Highly
successful music-themed apparel retailer Hot Topic launches
sister concept, Torrid, this month.
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Having rocked the nation with its music-inspired theme, Hot Topic now hopes to create an equally passionate customer base with its new retail concept, also aimed at an underserved group: plus-size teens and young women.
Called Torrid, the store launches this month at the Brea Mall in Brea, Calif.; five additional locations will open this year at Mission Valley Center in San Diego; Southwest Plaza in Littleton, Colo.; Westwoods Mall in Omaha, Neb.; Emerald Square Mall in North Attleboro, Mass; and Annapolis (Md.) Mall.
Hot Topic founder Orval Madden will head the division, designed to offer 15-to-30-year-olds hip, trendy styles in sizes 14 to 26. The merchandise mix will be 70% apparel, 30% accessories.
Like many of the company’s ideas, this one also came directly from kids.
“About two years ago, we began hearing from customers who wanted expanded sizes, and over the past few years, it’s been the No. 1 request from female customers,” said Hot Topic CEO Betsy McLaughlin. The firm has been testing plus sizes in its stores for the past 18 months; teen feedback also confirmed that plus-size girls wanted their own store.
Industry watchers praise both the concept, and the firm’s careful approach. “It’s the idea of ‘build it and they will come,’” said Kimberly Greenberger of Credit Suisse First Boston. “They’ve carried it, and the customer found them. The idea and the strategy behind the expansion is founded on very solid ground.”
She added, “Plus-size teens right now are basically faced with either trying to squeeze into the largest sizes carried at a trendy teen retailer, or they have to shop at women’s stores, neither of which option we think is a good solution.”
Among
the developers jumping on board is Simon Property Group, which opens
the first Torrid store this month in Southern California as well
as another at the Emerald Square Mall near Boston..
“When someone has a good track record, we’re more inclined to run with them in one of their other concepts,” noted Simon’s Executive Vice President of Leasing, Jim Napoli, adding, “We’ll of course do several of these and watch them very closely before we roll them out.”
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