Hot topics is a store listed under fashion in Yelp. Yeah, not exactly what I would call fashionable looks!
Got a call from my wife's sister that her two teenage sons are into the Goth look, and would like some T shirts of In Flames, Storm Warrior, Panaterra, System of a Down, Anti Flag, and Beastie Modey. Not exactly household names!
I check out San Jose and Sacramento, and find that there's a chain store called Hot Topics that caters to such fashion looks. The store in San Jose is in the Westgate Mall next to Steven Creek and Highway 17. After my experience with the 49er team store, I'm not going back to that traffic inferno!
Big mistake.
The Hot Topics store in Sacramento is located in the Arden Faire, a monster shopping mall, which makes Westgate shopping mall look like a kiddy playground!
We get there the Saturday after Christmas at 2pm in the afternoon, and there is the mother of all traffic jams, with endless lines of cars trying to make left turns into the mall. Parking tougher than Levi stadium on game day. We luck out and find a spot farthest away from the mall, right next to a monster pickup truck, backed in right on the parking line. A prime spot to get rear ended backing out!
Hot Topics is located on the 2nd floor right outside of the Macys. Big bright white shopping mall. Small dark store, with endless rows of black clothing, black T-shirts, chain belts, probably make-up, and other fashion items. Hey, Halloween was two months ago!
As I walk in, a lady clerk immediately comes up to me, sizing me up that I'm definitely going to need help here! She's got a black shirt, and tight jeans on, hair sticking straight up, possum eye shadows, black lipstick with a ring through her nose! How charming!
So I give her the list of six bands, and she's says right away that they only have T-shirts for two of the bands. We check out those two bands, and find out they are out of size large -only small and medium. My nephews are really size small, but they want the 'in look' with the T-shirts draped over them, down to their knees!
We get out of there without a purchase and head for the nephews' house. Family get together, with the nephews wearing black shirts with white Frankenstein lettering, chains around their waists, shaved heads, with pink mohawk hair cuts! Family picture with all the relatives, sans nephews!