Teen Vogue is One Step Ahead… but is it with the Right Foot?

by erica ~ October 30, 2008

For the first time in my blogging experience, I was at a loss for words when I read this article “Hanging Out at a Mall for the Holidays,” published in today’s New York Times.It’s about Teen Vogue and the new store it’s opening for the holiday season at the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey. That’s right… a teen fashion magazine with its own store. But there’s a catch (as always) - they will not be selling any products!

This store is set up for teen girls to “experience” the clothes and other products that they can find around the mall. The store will offer free snacks, informal modeling, a perfume bar, a makeup station, charging stations for cell phones and iPods, a gift-wrapping counter and racks of clothes. Stylists will be on- hand to help these spoiled teens, I mean customers, choose outfits, lipstick, etc.

I don’t know how this store is any different than an actual clothing store where consumers can try the clothes on and actually make purchases. Laura McEwen, the publisher of Teen Vogue, claims that these stores are “encouraging people to shop in the mall.” I’m sure the magazine’s underlying goal is using the store to promote itself.

It turns out that Teen Vogue is not the only one setting up shop in retail areas. According to this article, “Sports Illustrated opened its first retail store at the Detroit airport in September, and was installing airport kiosks that display sports scores and archived articles. Other media companies including CNN, USA Today, CNBC and the Fox News Channel also have their names on airport stores. Most of these locations are not operated by the companies, but by airport retailers.”

I love coming across these new ideas and see how successful they really are. When ad spending is low… this might be a better outcome for Teen Vogue and other publications that have seen better times!