The addition of Hot Topic at North Grand Mall will provide shoppers with more variety when it comes to clothes and accessories.

The store opened its doors Wednesday at 9:30 a.m with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Nancy Harrison, Hot Topic district manager, said the store caters to the 14-to-21 age group by offering clothes influenced by rock groups and music, as well as club gear and an assortment of T-shirts.

“Slipknot clothing was pretty popular in Des Moines, and I assume it will be here as well,” said Marissa Heers, Hot Topic employee. “I imagine the metal and the punk will be popular too – seems like there is a pretty big punk scene in Ames.”

In keeping with the music-oriented approach, Hot Topic also carries CDs of many of the bands that influence their clothing.

The store is offering a special promotion to celebrate the grand opening – customers can register to win 20 free albums.

Michelle Mendonca and Amanda Mikesell, junior in elementary education, stopped by to check out what the new store had to offer.

“I think it’s good because we need a lot more for our age group,” said Mendonca, employee at Claire’s in North Grand Mall. “It will provide more variety in clothing.”

“It’s going to provide stuff for another group of people that Ames really doesn’t provide for. It’s going to open that up,” Mikesell said. “There’s a lot more here than I thought there was going to be.”

Hot Topic also carries other accessories including jewelry, stickers and posters. The store offers items from popular cartoons including The Simpsons and SpongeBob Squarepants.

Harrison said Hot Topic decided to open the store now, even though many ISU students have gone home for the summer.

“I think it was just wanting to get in place before the back-to-school season,” she said. “We wanted to be open before the July season.”

Harrison said Hot Topic’s busiest time of year is Halloween.

“That’s like Christmas for us,” she said. “We buy specially for the Halloween season.”

The store also sees an increase in business when concerts come to town.

“It is a strong business week before and even after the concerts come to town, with the rock tees that we have,” Harrison said.

Hot Topic isn’t worried about competition from other North Grand stores, she said.

“We’re all supportive of the mall to be successful,” Harrison said. “We don’t really consider anyone to be a competitor. We’re a store that’s definitely very unique.”