Young decorators to spend $17 billion this year
Teen decorators are being catered to increasingly according to this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required):
Whatever happened to Princess phones and maybe a few rock-idol posters on the wall? For years, teenagers were happy simply to have a door they could close for a little privacy. Then came the era of McMansions, giving each kid their own room and enough space to express themselves with the decor. Now retailers are scrambling to position their wares for these hip junior decorators, with Kmart dubbing its Joe Boxer flannel sheets "bed pajamas" and Brewster Wallcovering Co. developing store displays to hawk wallpaper with the slogan, "Hey, girls, give your room some attitude."
...In all, the young-decorator set will spend about $17 billion this year on their rooms, double the amount less than a decade ago, according to The WonderGroup, a Cincinnati consulting company. They're getting tips from teen-apparel retailer Delia's, where housewares now account for 10% of catalog sales, up 50% from last year, and from Pier 1 Imports, which has started offering discounts to high-schoolers. Even media outlets like the Learning Channel, with "Trading Spaces," and Seventeen and CosmoGIRL!, are moving in on under-18 decor.