There’s a store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, called Hootenanny. Owned by Newbury Comics, the same company that runs a New England chain of records and pop culture memorabilia stores, Hootenanny stocks clothing, footwear and accessories by Paul Frank, Dickies, Levi, Doc Martens, etc. Amusingly enough, the Web site invites you:
Tired of the mall? Come on in and check us out!
The slogan in the store windows, as you can see, is WEAR WHAT YOU WANT!
Hootenanny says,"Wear what you want!"
Whenever I pass the store, I laugh because a) the store has a pretty narrow idea of what I’d want: e.g., co-opted modern “punk.” Also b), despite its positioning as an alternative to the mall, Hootenanny could best be described as an independently owned version of Hot Topic, purveyors of “punk lite” in malls across the U.S.
