Spirit Halloween’s parent company is snapping up a store known for its rock-and-roll vibe and pop culture savvy.
Spencer Spirit Holdings announced Thursday it will buy Hot Topic and two other stores owned by private equity firm Sycamore Partners, according to a press release. Spencer Spirit is paying around $350 million for Hot Topic Inc., according to Bloomberg, which includes Hot Topic, pop-culture trinket trove BoxLunch, and fashion brand Her Universe.
Sycamore Managing Director Dary Kopelioff said his company is “proud” of the way it’s grown Hot Topic Inc.
"We're proud of the value we've built together over more than a decade, and we're confident Spencer Spirit Holdings, Inc. is the right partner to carry this growth forward for the brands and their teams,” Kopelioff said.
Sycamore expects the deal to close by the end of September. It will boost Spencer Spirit’s total number of North American stores to more than 3,000, according to Retail Dive.
The private equity firm bought Hot Topic Inc. for $600 million in 2013, according to industry news site Retail Dive. At the time, the company had five brands: Hot Topic, BoxLunch, Her Universe, clothing store Torrid, and apparel and lingerie brand Blackheart.
Hot Topic opened in 1988, then joined the NASDAQ stock exchange in 1996 with its “HOTT” ticker symbol, according to the company’s About Us page. It went private in 2013 when Sycamore bought it.
The brand, known for its wide range of band and anime clothing, has transformed from a niche store for goth, emo and alt kids to a more mainstream establishment for everything from Disney franchises to K-Pop Demon Hunter gear, according to The Strategist, a New Yorker consumer review site.
Whereas the old iteration of the store was the type of place parents might be afraid of, the mainstream-ish bent of the current brand is welcoming a new group of fans, The Strategist wrote.
“I remember coming here when I was younger and the vibe was way more dark, but now it’s more bright and colorful,” a 20-year-old named Amberlyn told the publication. “Some people are like, I wish it was still the way it used to be, but I think it’s cool.”
Social media responses to the Hot Topic acquisition stoked nostalgia in some users.
“The best time for Hot Topic was the early 00s when they were staffed by only the coolest and meanest 16-20 somethings,” user cbih wrote on Reddit. “They'd [apathetically] fold shirts while calling customers posers.”
