Why The Recession Might Be Good For Teens

The Daily Beast:

One of my favorite stores is Plato's Closet, a thrift shop chain that offers gently used name-brand apparel at deep discounts. On a recent visit I bought a pair of Diesel jeans for $25, and a pair of Lucky Brand jeans for $20. I used to shop there by myself, but suddenly, many of my friends are eager to join me. Seems their parents, shell-shocked by their brokerage statements, have tightened the purse strings. Kathleen Lantz, who manages a Plato's Closet in Harrisonburg, Virginia, recently told the local paper there that business is booming, both in sales and consignments. "People really want to make that little bit of extra money and sell their clothes," she said.

The recession has been tough on people my age. I'm 20, a member of a generation that has exhibited an unrivaled sense of material entitlement, and a virtually insatiable thirst for cars, computers, iPhones and Xboxes. The Wall Street Journal's Jeffrey Zaslow famously railed against my peers and I for internalizing the "you're special" sentiments of Mr. Rogers. "But what often got lost in [Rogers'] self-esteem-building patter was the idea that being special comes from working hard and having high expectations for yourself," Zaslow wrote.

It would take an act of God to get high school students to clip coupons, but buying used t-shirts is a start.

Now, companies like Abercrombie and Fitch and video game retailer Gamestop have seen their stocks plummet on weak consumer spending and a flight to lower-cost alternatives; Abercrombie's stock dropped to $19 a share after a high earlier this year of $84. Their more affordable competitor Aeropostale, on the other hand, reported same-store sales were up 1% in October, while Abercrombie's fell by 20%.

Don't tell your kids this, but this is great news for young people, at least in the long-term.

Read the whole story: The Daily Beast