Twilight Will Save Us All

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Teenagers, with their disposable incomes and endless trend lust, are supposed to be a mall's final defense against the recession, but even they aren't buying. And of all the stores in the mall, the one that did the worst in March was Abercrombie—a direct reflection of their refusal to put merchandise on sale. How do you feel about that, Hot Topic CEO? "'I'm not sure customers are going to ever go back to shopping the way they once did,' said Betsy McLaughlin, the chief executive of Hot Topic, a competitor for the teen market, which posted a gain of 7.1 percent in March, largely on the strength of licensed products tied to the 'Twilight' vampire series. 'There's just so much retail out there. I think the people who will win are the ones who provide something different.'" Something like handsome vampires. [NYT]