On a recent afternoon, the Hot Topic store at the King of Prussia Mall, outside of Philadelphia, teemed with teenagers, 20-somethings and stroller-pushing parents. Demitri Benton, 19, of Reading, Pa., had come to browse the shop’s “Deadpool” offerings. In the ’90s and early aughts, one did not so much enter as descend into Hot Topic. The suburban shopping center staple was dungeonlike, with hellish gates that led shoppers into a dark commercial corridor. Often the shopping experience was set to a blaring soundtrack of Nine Inch Nails and My Chemical Romance (whose frontman — fun fact — once worked at Hot Topic).

Source: New York Times April 06, 2019 09:56 UTC