Aug 8, 2009

Tweens spend billions at storesBy Tom TobinDemocratandChronicle.com

Children, parents like to say, are always growing up too fast.

Now, at least, they’re doing it in style.

“Tween” fashions and accessories, those marketed to children, usually girls between ages 7 and 14, are a multibillion-dollar business in America with a healthy and growing component in the Rochester region.

Justice, the latest evolution of the Limited Too brand for girls, has a devoted clientele at Eastview Mall in Victor, as do Claire’s Accessories, Icing and Abercrombie and Gap stores aimed at kids.

One doesn’t have to walk too far along the mall promenades to find a store that, if it doesn’t cater strictly to young children, has a wide enough inventory to encompass them. The tween market is a fast-growing niche in the apparel and accessories world — kids of that age spend $30 billion annually and influence as much as $150 billion in spending by their parents.

Marketing costs for tweens were estimated at $17 billion in 2006. In 1983, the tween dark ages by comparison, the national marketing budget for that age group was a mere $100 million.

How young is young in the world of modern marketing? Ali Nordeen, who sells cell phones at the Sprint kiosk at Eastview, said he recently sold a phone to a family buying it for a 4-year-old.

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