Hottopic + Thinkgeek = HotGeek?

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Thinkgeek and Hot Topic are two popular stores that sell pop culture items. Thinkgeek, up until this point in time, has only existed on the Internet, but all is about to change. Just recently Hot Topic purchased Thinkgeek.

Hot Topic used to be the central for all goth and punk related apparel in the 90s; a store that made my Catholic parents cringe. For me it was a paradise to try something new in my life from wearing belts laden with skulls, chokers, and wristbands adorned with band logos. Needless to say they weren’t too thrilled about this venture in my life, but what do you do when you’re a teen? You rebel against society and throw the horns and middle finger to the man. Then later on you realize that the man is your boss who pays you to do a service and you need said money to live and buy more chokers.

As the years rolled on Hot Topic slowly changed, starting off by selling anime, Justin Bieber, and Nyan Cat merchandise. Not too long after, Disney crept its way through the doors and soon the store sold all things geeky. Of course there’s nothing wrong with geeky (I’m a geek myself) and naturally, the store changed to fit the times. From its evolution, Hot Topic has lost its gothic and punk roots thus upsetting people everywhere who grew up with store.  It also doesn’t help that Hot Topic has thousands of rumors on Google of stealing other people’s artwork to incorporate into their own merchandise.

Thinkgeek is a site that also radiates geek from its merchandise to its tag line. Over the years it has gained quite a reputation as being the go-to online store for all things geek. It has served as the ultimate proprietor of unique gifts for the pop culture population from Firefly to Star Trek and has definitely helped me for birthdays and Christmas.

People have complained that both stores are going to ruin based on how expensive everything is from mere key chains to t shirts. Shipping prices have escalated, jumping from five dollars to seven and even with discounts that still doesn’t help. Some have even noticed the quality of the items are declining, making them wonder what exactly are they spending so much money on.

Now that these giant geeky stores are merging, who knows what will happen?  Maybe we will finally have a Thinkgeek store or Hot Topic will start selling unicorn meat and Lord of the Rings’ weapon replicas. Maybe we’ll finally have reduced prices or witness the return of the 90s goth and punk paradise. Either way, this merge could be a bright future or distasteful disaster for both outlets.

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to share, comment, and critique.

So tell me, what do you think of Hot Topic buying Thinkgeek?