Saturday, October 11, 2008

Teens: Show me the money

Sometimes it seems like so much I read about teens and Gen Y revolves around how much money they spend and on what.

Then I remind myself I'm reading marketing sites, trying to use that information to apply to libraries. So, of course, it's a bit skewed.

Still, I wonder, with economic times being hard, what will that mean to teens who have always expected to be able to buy certain things? For example, buying the cool bright orange winter coat? When I'd read that last year, it was teens take chances and buy things that stand out! Me, as older (but not necessarily wiser) thought, you only buy bright orange when you think you buy a new winter coat every year. When you realize that coat is going to last ten years, orange isn't so appealing.

Will teens turn to thrift stores and less expensive brands and labels? But even that is spending money.

Anyway, I'm not the only one wondering this: The Frugal Teenager, Ready or Not at The New York Times.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My sister got into this kick as a teen (which she hasn't grown out of) that shopping at thrift stores WAS cool. She would purposely buy things like sports jerseys from other school districts and things-- and if it had someone else's name or initials on it, even better! Granted, she's a bit of a hippie, not one of the kids who buys things for the labels, so I can't say how that would go with anyone else... but maybe hippie kids WILL be the In Crowd in time-- after all, it's cool to be Green nowadays, too.

Chris Barton said...

The other day, my tween wanted to discuss the Paulson plan versus the stock-injection option. I take this as a hopeful sign for his spending habits during These Troubled Times of Ours.

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