Hot Topic's Temporary Rock
Hot Topic Rock is the section within the 610 Hot Topic stores that stocks rock T-shirts and accessories. For a short time, Hot Topic Rock has also become its own store.
In early May, a Hot Topic Rock store was opened in the Westfield Main Place shopping center in Santa Ana, Calif. T-shirts bearing rock band logos line the walls of the less-than-1,000-square-foot store. The rest of the space is filled out with CDs, music accessories and rock magazines. Hot Topic Chief Executive Officer Betsy McLaughlin stressed that Hot Topic Rock is not a new concept for the City of Industry, Calif., retailer, which owns mall stores Hot Topic and Torrid.
Instead, the Hot Topic Rock store is a case of retail improvisation. The real estate needed to expand the existing store at Main Place was not available, so Hot Topic decided to use the space to house the high-performing music-related merchandise Hot Topic Rock. A conventional Hot Topic store will be built at Main Place at a later date, McLaughlin said.“It’s a short-term real estate play,” said McLaughlin. “Not an experiment, not a new strategy, and not a new concept.” —Andrew Asch
