Hot Topic
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- 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 | apparel, music |
| Revenue | ▲ US$751.6 million (2006)[1] |
| Website | www.hottopic.com |
Hot Topic (NASDAQ: HOTT) is an American chain store. It has over 690 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 music and pop-culture-related fashion and merchandise including: clothing, books, comics, jewelry, CDs, records, posters and other items. It also backs major concert festivals like Ozzfest and recently, Sounds Of The Underground and Taste of Chaos. Products from Tripp NYC, Lip Service, Heartcore Clothing, Morbid Threads, Disney, Sanrio, Social Collision, and Iron Fist are also stocked.
In the past, major bands such as Korn, Good Charlotte and Avenged Sevenfold 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 Marilyn Manson, Avenged Sevenfold, Underoath, My Chemical Romance, Paramore, HIM, Bullet For My Valentine, and Disturbed 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".
As of April 2008, Hot Topic started carrying To Write Love On Her Arms shirts, which makes Hot Topic the first chain to ever carry TWLOHA merchandise. Within 2 weeks TWLOHA shirts were one of the biggest selling shirts in Hot Topic, but due to the use of profanity and religion in the story printed on the inside of the shirts, they were ultimately pulled from the store at the end of those 2 weeks. The shirts that were unsold were given to Hot Topic employees. The story has been re-worked to comply with Hot Topics policies so they can continue to carry the shirts.
Hot Topic is also known for having an extensive range of Tim Burton film products such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd merchandise.
It is one of 3 stores allowed to sell Marilyn Manson products and sells a wide variety of products.
Hot Topic owns and operates a chain of plus-size women's clothing stores, Torrid, which began operations in 2001. Torrid's focus has shifted from similarly-themed clothing in women's sizes to more clubwear and workwear for young plus-sized women, carrying brands such as BabyPhat, House of Dereon, Dickies, Z. Cavaricci and Apple Bottoms. The company's private labels include Social Collision, Saints and Sailors, Cupcake Cult, and Morbid, formerly Morbid Threads. Hot Topic was named number 53 on Fortune 100's Top Companies to Work For list in 2006.
[edit] New Look
Starting in 2007, Hot Topic started to change the look of their stores. They are dropping a darker look for more neutral colors. The Chain planned to have 12-15 percent of their stores remodeled by the end of 2007. They are calling the new stores "downtown stores" to represent their downtown look.
