77 kids store at Woodfield taps teen market

@SP Body Copy:She's always liked the teenage clothes at American Eagle Outfitters, so Schaumburg mom Seon Jeong was excited to check out the new line aimed at preschool and elementary school-aged children, 77kids.

“They're very good clothes — well-made, and with good designs,” she said, as she pushed her 3-year-son in a stroller into the new 77 kids store at Woodfield Shopping Center, which opened in November.

The merchandise consists of trendy clothing items like hoodies with peace signs, skinny jeans, graphic print T-shirts and sparkly accessories.

Inside the store, upbeat music plays and there are attention-grabbing features like two huge interactive touch screens that let shoppers virtually try on clothes, select the music being played in the store or pose for photos with personal messages and graffiti designs that can be printed out at the checkout area.

77kids stores are part of a new push among teen-oriented retailers to expand their market by reaching out to the elementary-aged crowd.

A few of these stores first tried to expand by targeting older, twentysomthing shoppers. Abercrombie & Fitch launched Ruehl and Aéropostale had Jimmy'Z — but neither really caught on. So far, though, clothiers report success from reaching out in the other direction — to the younger fashionistas who have just learned to read and write.

The media and revved up brand marketing is making children as young as 5 or 6 conscious of what they're wearing, said Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst with NPD Group, a consumer market research firm.

“The younger are getting older earlier, and the older are aspiring to stay young longer. In many cases, the 8-year-old is telling the parents what the cool products are,” Cohen said. “No parent today, particularly in this economy, wants to spend money and have their kids say, ‘I don't want to wear this.'”

Elementary kids want to look like tweens, tweens want to look like teens, and it's not until about age 25 that people are comfortable dressing their age, Cohen said. That's why these stores have successfully lured in brand-conscious children (and parents).

“Every girl or boy can't wait to get out of his ‘Cars' or ‘Toy Story' PJs and get into an Abercrombie or American Eagle product,” Cohen said. “If you have an older brother or sister, it even happens faster.”

AEO opened dozens of 77kids stores last year. In the meantime, Aéropostale debuted P.S. and Forever 21 opened HTG81, although neither company has stores in the Chicago area.

Both P.S. Aéropostale and HTG81 are aimed at ages kindergarten and up.

None of the stores would divulge sales figures, but a spokeswoman for 77kids said customer response has been “extremely positive.”

Forever 21 Senior Marketing Manager Linda Chang said the HTG81 kids line sells everything from $2.90 camis to $22.90 coats.

“The kids line encompasses everything from classic to casual-cool, just like its sister line, Heritage 1981,” Chang said. “(It) offers a wide variety of comfortable, easy-to-wear styles, with the same quality and attention to detail that loyal consumers have grown to expect.”

It's not an entirely new concept. GAP did this many years ago with GAP Kids, and there are chains like Old Navy, The Children's Place, Target and Justice (formerly Limited Too) that have always catered to children. And children's boutiques have been popping up all over the suburbs for the past decade.

But teen stores are also a growing area of retail. The baby-to-young-teen market is roughly $34 billion, which is a large chunk of the overall apparel market, which has $190 billion in annual sales, according to NPD Group.

“It's the parents who are coming in with their wallets open,” Cohen said.