Mmmm. Gonna step in here as a former employee. The hate for HT gets under my skin sometimes, because people don’t seem to understand how business works?
In the first example, that shirt is designed by the band, not Hot Topic themselves as a company. Most of the band merch is like this. (And that damn Homestuck shirt was not stolen or whitewashed Jesus Christ. It was part of a contest thst Andrew Hussie approved of. And do y'all now know how printing works? Colors shift in printing.)
Yeah, sizing can be weird, but once you understand how it works(or, y'know, ask an employee for help instead if whining), it’s super easy.
The “women’s” t-shirts are actually juniors sizes. Depending on the store, they’ll normally be sold up to an XXL in store, and up to a 4x online(which can be ordered in the store).
The regular t-shirts(like most of the band tees not specifically put in the women’s section), run like any normal t-shirt without much variation from brand to brand.
Men’s pants, totally normal sizing.
Women’s pants, again, I think they run off of Junior’s sizing.
But seriously, Hot Topic jeans are the only ones I wear. They’re stretchy and comfier than any other pair of jeans I’ve worn.
And aaaah. The age old “You guys used to sell punk and goth stuff. Ugh.”
It’s still available. It’s just online. You can buy Tripp pants to your heart’s content on the website.
There’s a reason that it’s not sold physically in store. It’s EXPENSIVE. Most people aren’t willing to spend 70 bucks or more on one pair of pants. It’s super niche as well. There simply isn’t the market for it anymore.
The entire 3 years I worked for the company, I only had ONE person actually wanting to buy Tripp pants once I mentioned that I could order them through the website(which I told everyone who ever complained about Hot Topic “changing”).
And guess what? After I looked on the website with this person for a good half an hour and took down SKUs and wrote down their entire order for them, so they could keep hold of it and hand it to the cashier when they were ready….
They just left. Never bought the pants.
One time we got a return of Tripp pants from someone that ordered them online. Those things sat on the rack for months.
So the reason why “they don’t sell punk and goth stuff anymore”… is because punk and goth people AREN’T BUYING IT.
So. For the Mad Love thing. Most of the world isn’t tumblr. So most people just… y'know, didn’t care.
I had 40 year old women come in super excited to buy Joker/Harley stuff. Honestly, it was mostly just Harley stuff. There was maybe one or two shirts that actually depicted the two of them together, and then some accessories with the matching color schemes.
It’s something that exists in the DC universe. And some people like it. There’s a market for it.
Not that I myself support it, but other people, especially the older crowd, absolutely adore it. Some people just like it for the aesthetic, and some don’t even know much about DC.
And tbh, it was just the higher ups pushing this shit. None of us at store level actually liked it. We were all sick of Harley Quinn in general lol.
And here’s a wild idea. If you don’t like something. Contact the company. Send them an email. Voice your complaints TO the company.
Because flat out not shopping there doesn’t hurt the CEOs or the people on top.
It hurts the minimum wage workers.
Sales associates are already stretched thin, having to be helping customers, being a cashier, and cleaning the store. As well as keeping an eye out for sticky-fingered teens.
I was a manager, on an average day, I wouldn’t even HAVE a sales associate helping me. I’d be alone in the store from 9am-1pm, when the other manager came in. We’d overlap to take our breaks from 1pm-5pm, and then they’d be alone the rest of the night.
Why? We wouldn’t have enough hours to give out. Why? Because people weren’t spending money.
Heaven forbid we went over hours.
What in saying is. Times change. Hot Topic has become more fandom-centric, but that’s because that’s how the crowd evolved.
The punk kids who bought from HT years ago now have kids of their own. Kids who like Disney and anime and comics.
While there is some shitty stuff going on, that’s to be expected with any store.
Hot Topic offers an affordable option to fans to get merch they like.
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