Founder of Hot Topic Launches Concept Store
Orv Madden gambled that urban, punk fashions would captivate suburban mall rats when he opened Hot Topic Inc. 15 years ago. Now he is betting consumers will embrace another downtown look in his new concept store, Metropark.
Madden is bringing contemporary looks—premium jeans, fitted T-shirts, blazers and other specialty store styles—to four Metropark locations, set to open in October. These stores will be situated in California shopping centers based outside the hip neighborhoods where such looks are typically sold.
Metropark will open on Oct. 2 at the Glendale Galleria in Glendale and on Oct. 14 at The Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks, according to representatives from those shopping centers. Specific opening dates at the Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara and the Westfield Shoppingtown Oakridge mall in San Jose could not be confirmed by press time. According to the Metropark Web site, www.metroparkusa.com, the company will open a fifth store at the Galleria at Tyler shopping center in Riverside, Calif., in late 2005.
When these stores open, their target customers, twentysomething men and women, will be treated to an eclectic mix of hip apparel brands, entertainment by DJs, paintings by young artists and an assortment of lifestyle items, including jewelry, shoes, magazines, skincare products and even accessories for dogs.
Premium-denim labels, including Netherlands-based G-Star and Los Angeles–based Chip & Pepper and Yanuk, will anchor the store along with action sports– friendly lines such as RVCA and Volcom of Costa Mesa, Calif., and menswear line Howe of Huntington Beach, Calif.
Jade Howe, owner and designer of Howe, said the shop will be one of the first contemporary, premium stores to retail men’s and women’s apparel, skincare products and music together in a multi-store direction. He also said he believes the store will create more opportunities for contemporary labels.
“It’s difficult for manufacturers to put all of their distribution eggs in the boutique basket,” Howe said. “We need a multi-door retailer that’s bigger than boutique and smaller than a department store. We need a retailer who has some buying juice and brings greater brand exposure by building stores in higher profile foot-traffic areas.”
Metropark is debuting during a time when retailers are looking for new ways to appeal to consumers, according to Christy Glass Lowe, managing director of Santa Monica, Calif.–based USBX Advisory Services LLC. She said Madden’s approach should initially find a welcoming audience because consumers are seeking novel retail concepts.
“Consumers are tired of confusing department store layouts and predictable mall stores,” Lowe said. “People want to shop at specialty stores. These stores emphasize creating an experience that includes more than just buying clothes and leaving the store.”
The contemporary category should see more growth, said Sandy Richman, co-owner of Directives West, a retail consulting company based in Los Angeles.
“It’s high fashion at a very affordable price. It’s been a growth industry for the past three years,” Richman said. “Premium denims and the T-shirt business are part of contemporary’s dress-down look, and BCBG and Trina Turk are part of the dress-up look, and those brands have been unbelievable performance-wise.”
Madden retired from Hot Topic and the retailing game in 2001. He declined to be interviewed for this article, but former colleague Betsy McLaughlin, chief executive officer of Hot Topic, said he jumped back into the game because he is a highly driven man.
“He always has the itch to try something new,” McLaughlin wrote in an e-mail. “He’s not afraid to think differently or take risks.”
