Hot Topic

Have only been here once and that is the last time I will go to this location. First of all I don’t like the location of the store so that is a great start right? But my friends wanted to go there so I tagged along. The store is tiny tiny! Seems like a whole in the wall. Somewhat of a large inventory but seems cluttered. The staff were ok, nothing special. My friend was able to find something but not me. You can forget about parking around the area — pretty much impossible.

I really wanted to like this HT and grab something Walking Dead related for the guy I am dating, however, they had nothing of real value and or interest other than your typical run of the mill shirts, a few My Little Pony things (new Gen). In fact it was a really small store that should’ve utilized their space more by putting in better products. They did have tons of skinny jeans at prices that weren’t on the skinny side. I remember when HT used to be cool instead of a pop culture punchline.

I’m going to a Rock Star party on Valentine’s Day. I can not begin to tell you how perfect this store is for everything I need!!! They’ve got great clothes, bracelets, gloves, glasses, hair colors, nail polish… Everything!
I asked the Assistant Manager for help and he came up with suggestions I would have never thought of. He’s a cool dude and was totally enthused to make me look good!
To top it off, they were having a buy one, get one ½ off sale.
Even when my Rock Star days are over, I’ll be back.

This is a review specifically for the female store associate that worked around 5:35 PM on September 6^th, 2012.
I called this store looking for a band t-​shirt in which the band was going to perform the next day. And this was the 5^th Hot Topic I called around the Bay Area. Yes I know, very last minute.
When I called, I was greeted politely and was told I have to be on hold because the female associate was the only person present and she was taking care of another customer. I thought that was very professional because most «put on holds» are done without a reason offered. In just a few minutes, she greeted me again and asked what do I need help with. I asked her for the shirt I need but unfortunately they had sold out the size I need. Then, she not only offered me different options, but she had also offered to check with other stores for me, which none of the other 4 stores had offer to do for me. I was pleased with her customer service but I informed her I had already called those stores prior and the concert was happening the next day, so I can’t order on
. Then, she went outside the box and told me another store that may carry the shirt, so I called the store and guess what… they got the shirts I want in stock! YES!
Seriously, this female associate’s customer service was beyond well trained, I can sense her politeness and helpfulness are coming from her personality as well. Hot Topic of Berkeley is lucky to have such associate.

SIGH… If you’re taller than 5’7″ and have some meat on your bones, just keep walking…
It’s a typical HOT TOPIC alright — there aint a xxl t-​shirt in the place! I’ve been to several stores arround the country and they ALL have this problem. The clerk always assures me that they do in fact carry xxl shirts but that they «sell out quicly» or that the store «runs out of those first». It never dawns on anybody to… idunno…START ORDERING AND STOCKING MORE OF THEM!!!
I’m 6’3″ /​250 pounds. So, that means that dish rag sized, slim fit bullshit aint getting it done. I’m 44 years old and I had the ORIGINAL shirts of most of the classic bands that HT sells replicas of. I saw every band that mattered between 1982 — 2000. I would enjoy having some of those again but of course, I’ve put on a few pounds since the 1980s — it happens.
Most of the true hard core fans of those classic bands are older folks like me who I imagine have also gained a few pounds since back in the day. You would think HT would understand that and carry shirts to reach the die hards like myself — but no! They market to teenie boopers and twenty somethings — the kids who care so little for the music they bootleg most of it off the computer instead of actually having to work and pay for it like my generation did.
So, we get the 16 year old, 135 pound skater kid walking arround in his size medium METALLICA «Master Of Puppets 1986 tour» t-​shirt — with his «I’m so cool» attitude. — HEY SLICK — I WAS THERE IN 1986 AND I DIDNT SEE YOU!
So, HT is bypassing the most loyal customer base for the great classic bands because they fail to match ordering and stocking to the market demand. SAD actually. If I owned a hot topic and a middle aged guy walked in with a wallet full of money looking for shirts, it would seem logical to me to have something to sell him.

Hot Topic is what it is. A bit edgy but now also a bit cutesey. I mean, there’ll be hardcore punk and metal merchandise, but blended in with lots of babydoll t-​shirts and hair accessories and gay-​friendly slogans and adorable Japanese icons. It’s sort of fun, but it’s also sort of young. Went with a friend who wanted skinny jean shorts, and found them.
Staff is friendly and the location is great. Other than that, it’s a standard Hot Topic.

I remember when my mom used to be scared of this store a billion years ago, but now she likes going in to see the cute stuff.
Hot Topic has definitely lost a lot of it’s edge. While shopping this store, I overheard the employees having a meeting. Then they started talking about how a certain employee’s look may be a bit extreme so she needs to be super friendly as people walk in. I wanted to say, «Eff that! This is Hot Topic!»
Still, the employees really are nice. They have a ton of clearance, and they’re pretty good about sensing what I’m looking for and help me in my quest.
Personally, I like the look of the employees. It’s comforting walking into Hot Topic and be helped by people my mom would cross to the side of the street from.

Definitely not the best Hot Topic I’ve been into — most of their collection is a small wall of shirts, clearance, and jewelry/​hair dye.
Come here for (sort-​of-​pricey) hair dye, novelty makeup, Twilight clearance. If you’re looking for a specific band shirt, cheap piercings, or good music, I’d try down the street at Amoeba records or shop online.
Staff is pretty nice, I’ll give them that.

Okay — I’ve seen better Hot Topics, mostly on the East Coast. But it’s far far far better than the Hot Topics store in downtown San Francisco (at the mall at the Powell BART Station). And they have a lot of clearance stuff so that’s a plus, because all of their stuff is usually overpriced.
And I love GIR and I love Invader Zim, and Hot Topic has their claws on that whole product line. AND THEY ARE NEVER ON CLEARANCE! I swear, it gets on my last nerve that they always have the ugliest stupidest stuff on clearance. Except when they have cute underwear on sale there. I love to buy my undies there. Nice brassieres and panties… cute and funky and sassy!
I have a Hot Topic +1 Card, which I’ve been loading forever. I think I have like, 30,000 points on it now, no shit, I do. It’s sad really.
I love their funky special lines they offer, like their Punk Rose shoes, their TRIPP clothing line, and some others than my brain just farted out. I love their clothing though! I mean, not their stupid T-​Shirts and how they over-​do some lame shit, like when Twilight came out, they had a million shirts and T-​shirts and crap with all «Team Edward» and «Team Jacob» on them (BTW I am «Team Jacob»), and those Twilight Hoodies with the werewolves on them are living on the Clearance Rack… yep, just moved right on in, never going to leave. They do that with some movies that come out that they just know the goths or weirdos are going to gobble on up. Such a dirty shame.
Except when like, Alice in Wonderland came out. They had a lot of the coolest clothes that were like designed to be like the movie, but all Tim Burtons weird cool, with the funky hats and cool poofy skirts… Oh I LOVED IT. L-​L-​L-​L-​Loved it. But it was all so expensive. And their jackets in the back! Wow, they have got some hot designs. I love their designs. I love their lingerie. La-​la-​la-​la-​la-​laaaaaove it.
But I am really trying to save up my money and not blow it all on just one outfit, so I usually just window shop, sigh whistfully while looking at their outfits that I would l-​l-​l-​l-​love to own, and then add 10 points to my card and go home. And now that I don’t live in Berkeley, I don’t get to do that anymore.
They have a great Hot Topics that blows this one way out of the water back east in Augusta, GA, that if I am a good grrl, when I go to visit my parents back east, I sometimes can convince my mommy to take my shopping there and buy me a couple hundred bucks worth of awesome clothes, but she rolls her eyes, sighs, and gives me a guilt trip because she doesn’t really like to shop there herself naturally, and of course she can’t get away with wearing this shit at her age anyway.
But it’s great for people who don’t ever want to grow up, and don’t mind looking ridiculous and e-​tarded. And if you LOOK like you shop there, like you wear the clothing exactly as you bought it, and haven’t broken it in (by that, I mean, somehow MADE it to be YOURS by customizing it by adding something unique to it), then SHAME ON YOU. You POSEUR!

So, I have a secret love of emo, which is why I enter Hot Topic every once in a while. PLUS, they have one of the best collections of accessories around, so I come in a lot for that too.
This place is alright, the people who work here are CRAZY NICE. It’s not a very nice, but after being around business people all the time at Haas, it is kind of intimidating being around the people inside Hot Topic since they have more visible piercings and tattoos. BUT, I love how the employees treat me normally (not like I’m an outsider-​poseur) and with lots of enthusiasm, like I’m their friend. One time I called in to see if these glasses they had online were in stock, and the guy rummaged around in the back for like 5 minutes and got them on hold for me!

Good service. Crappy clothes.
I don’t feel the need anymore to wear my «music» on my shirt nor do I feel the need to shop here. The people are nice. But it’s Hot Topic.Corporate. Anti Berkeley.

This Hot Topic on Telegraph street is almost how Hot Topics used to be before they went all fat kid emo on all of us. Basically they have salvaged some of the punk/​rock/​goth style that made them great in the first place. As a whole this chain has gone mainstream. At least this location has made an attempt to keep it real.

Really like how there is a place when I can buy music from. I once went to Rasputin and they didn’t have what I was looking for. I came here and they had the CD I wanted. This place has a good variety of band shirts and other memorabilia.

Another favorite of mines! I probably shop here second most (after Urban Outfitter) when I was in undergrad. I love the gothic feel… I remember bringing in a very good friend of mines and she was freaked out by the salesman and manager. She kept commenting on their attire and nails to me. In addition, it’s great to see the people that walk into this store. A completely different feel than the prissy girls that enter Wet Seal! (hah!) They have pretty cool items, I’m a fan of their accessories more than anything. I use this store as another way to spunk myself up. If you look at the way I dress, it’s not goth-​like at all so alot of my friends are surprised when they find out i shop here. You just gotta know how to pull it off!
Also, this is a great place for me to shop for my cousin since she loveessss Nightmare before Christmas. After Halloween, I completely stock up for her. Awesome store with awesome people.

I’ve been in a ton of hot topics before. I know they’re all kind of small. This one had such a limited selection. However, the worker was nice.

The service is super good here, I’ll give them that. The employees are friendly and the music’s good as long as they keep the hip hop out, which I’ve noticed they haven’t on some days.
Small concerts are cute and a nice touch.
They totally remodeled and it looks pretty good now, but come on it’s hot topic.
Another store for teeny boppers to spend their mother’s money on overpriced trendy items. MC Lars is right, although their band shirts are a weakness.
Oh and since when are cupcakes punk? Better start hittin’ up those bakeries.

This store is heaven for an emo teen such as myself. If you like black, punk music, spikes n chains, deadly hello kitty, twlight crap, fingerless gloves and racks of body jewelry – this is the place to go.
I just bought three new belly-​button rings and a nose ring, plus a Violence tastes like cupcakes CD. The other people who reviewed this place and gave it one star? You must be either a) old ladies who think they’re hip, or b) some preppy ‘just out of the second grade and OMFG ITS SUMMER YAYEE!’ hannah-​montana lover.
I go to this place like once a month; and some of the concerts they have there are pretty cool.
Audrey who works there – loving the red contact lenses and vamp fangs. Lovin it.

They have local talent play in their telegraph ave shop. Some of which is really fun and awesome.
I was decked out to the hilt in drowned sailor attire/​makeup and not once ware bothered by ‘where are you going/​what are you supposed to be/it’s not halloween/​yet’.
Made me feel like I was in a toys’r’us commercial.
Almost makes the gawdawful cheesecore poppunk clothing worth standing next to.
The discount sector is aight. But not too aight.
They stopped carrying RAW dye… WTH??? I’m not putting that Other dye even near my hair, sorry.
I saw buttons, patches, shirts with 2 unicorns in front of a spinney~vortex on it that said ‘We found candy mountain’, wtfff? Since when did the slogan change to «All About The Youtube»???
Just in case anyone wanted to surreptitiously send out that extra special super secret «pssst~ I’m hip to the internet jive’ vibe. Otherwise commonly interpreted as «i’m on assloads of drugs» to those unhip to teh internets.

I like this Hot Topic marginally more than the Concord store.
Why?
Well I ran into my ex friends old boyfriend here. For shear joy of telling him his ex likes girls better and seeing his eyes bug, the store totally gets 2 stars.
I think the people here are much more laid back (it is Berkeley) and the layout is a bit easier to move around in (the counter is closer to the door and against the wall, instead of in the back and floating in the middle like the concord store).
All in all I’d probably prefer to come here instead of concord.

This place just downright pisses me off. I mean here these kids are coming in with there freaking parents and they’re pissing and moaning about how their lives suck because mommy wont buy them another Taking Back Sunday CD. And they claim its «punk rock» and whatnot. And they say its «all about the music.» That is false advertisement right there. They make these damn kids believe they’re hardcore cause they’ve got the cool t-​shirts (that cost a f-​cking fortune) and the awesome creepy make-​up when they don’t know jack shit about good music.
Well here’s a question for you.
Why the hell does everything cost so god damn much if its «all about the music» ???
Jesus. They’re just trying to make a freaking profit from these gullible teeny boppers. When they don’t even know that Hot Topic’s just another one of Hollister’s-or whatever its called– chain stores.
And as for the «awesome» Tee’s that cost 20 $
Theres better ones at The T-​shirt Orgy down the street. And cheaper too.
Punk rock? Please. Gimme a fucking break.