Hot Topic is a department store that focuses on 'alternative' clothing. It boasts a 'punk rock' style, but really has a lot of options that could appeal to anyone. They have everything from dresses to hoodies to belts and hair dye. Pretty much anything to help you get your fashion on- they carry. They change out their items frequently and have featured everything from Pokemon Pikachu hoodies to Superman t-shirts. The business is labeled as a 'women's clothing' store here on Yelp, but it has clothes for both men and women (and teens).
This Hot Topic Store is located on the 1st floor of the 5th Avenue Mall in downtown Anchorage. It's inside the north entry, and right above the basement floor that features the Alaskan Walking Store. Hot Topic is a store targeted towards teens and they tend to have some kind of interesting music playing. A lot of Hot Topic stores aren't very well-lit, but this one actually has decent lighting so you can see what you're looking at. It's relatively small, but well-stocked. It isn't necessarily the most well-organized store in the mall, but it's organized well-enough that you can find your way around pretty easily.
I've had mixed experiences at this store in terms of the customer service. I've gone in and been greeted by a very sweet girl in a Ravenclaw Harry Potter outfit who helped me find what I was looking for with genuinely good customer service on Halloween. Even though the store was packed, she was super sweet and ready to help me and other customers. She also had a genuinely amazing cosplay Ravenclaw uniform on- which fit the store perfectly and was a fun way to sport her style during Halloween. On the other hand- I've also had some crappy experiences. One day I went in to buy pink Manic Panic hair dye. They didn't have a lot of hair dye on stock and the manager was the only person working. I went to ask him what colors he had available and he basically said that if I wanted to know- I should look, because that's all there was. The hair-dye section is almost always under-stocked and usually poorly organized. Maybe I'm nit-picky, but other Hot Topics do a much better job at organizing and keeping a good array of hair dye. The manager working at that time was also rather rude when I asked him other questions about the hair dye. He wasn't working with any other customers at the time and he didn't appear busy behind the counter, but he didn't do a good job answering my questions. Maybe he just wasn't well-informed on the products, or he just was in a bad mood, but his one-word answers about his over-priced hair dye was really discouraging. Unfortunately, it's the only place in Anchorage I've found that sells Manic Panic, so I ended up purchasing it anyways (or else, honestly, I would have gone somewhere else where people could have answered my questions more informatively- or at least in a nicer tone). Other times I've been in the customer service has been on and off. Sometimes the people are great, very friendly, and super helpful. Other times they lack any kind of enthusiasm and I typically leave without purchasing anything, simply because I don't want to have to deal with the poor customer service.
Unfortunately I'm only giving this place 3 stars. I love the selection of items, I like that it's well-lit, and they do have some VERY sweet employees. With that being said, they also have some rude employees and I feel the place could be kept a bit more organized and well-stocked. read more
