The first Hot Topic store was opened in November 1989 in Montclair, California. The first CEO was Orv Madden who was an executive at The Children's Place. In 1996 the company went public and began trading on the NASDAQ . In 2013 the company was sold to private equity firm Sycamore Partners.
The primary target shopper of this store is teens and young adults who are interested in music, video games, and pop culture. I have been shopping here with my daughter since was in middle school and now she is in college. She still loves their clothing and having mom pay for it. We came in to shop for back to school and an early birthday present. I haven't had much luck with the employees or the store near me so I was shocked when I saw how clean and organized this store was. The clothes still go all the way up to the ceiling where you can't reach them driving me crazy and requiring you to always ask for help but at least this store had a real dressing room. We ended up buying quite a few things, jeans, shorts, overalls, and tops. We ran 15 minutes past closing and the manager cheerfully waited for us to finish up.
If you have the Hot Topic credit card you can earn rewards. We also got the Hot Cash which gives you a 50 percent discount when you shop again at a later date. If you don't find what you want in store, you can order online and have it shipped to the store for free. This was one of the most pleasant experiences I have had in a Hot Topic store and it was well worth the drive. read more