Blog assignment #8

I chose Hot Topic.

Walk into the store, notice the ambience, the lighting, the music, the salespeople, the mannequins,
What do they convey?

The lighting is dark, the music is punk rock, the salesperson had green hair. The walls are a fake brick wall. I believe this is supposed to convey an edgy gothic non mainstream type of store.

Who does it cater to?
The store caters to teenagers and young adults, especially those that aren't in the in crowd. Caters to musicians (lots of music type of clothing and even sells records) and teenagers in general.

Who is shopping? Age group, description.
There were a couple college girls, and a couple punk rock looking guys who seemed to be in their early 20's. They wore tight jeans and had crazy dark hair.

How helpful are the sales staff?
I asked the salesperson for something imparticular and he just looked at me like and didn't really respond. Wasn't helpful at all. He had green hair and looked to be in his 40's.

What works and what should they be doing differently?
Hot topic is well known for trying to be edgy and opposite of main stream culture. What's weird is that in the very front of the store is a lot of pop culture and mainstream type clothing, mainly of the cartoon and video game characters our generation grew up with as kids like Super Mario and the Ninja Turtles/Power Rangers/X-Men. This seems to go against the image they present and I imagine would draw in a completely different consumer than their main target audience, but that might be what they want.