Tween Beat

Yet to suggest there isn't anything new in tween town would be misleading. Most obviously, there's a greater ethnic diversity among preteens in the United States now. Then, too, there's the interactivity of technology. For instance, whereas baby boomers absorbed product information through TV commercials while growing up, their children are able to actively explore the Internet in order to discover the latest in merchandise. And today's kids aren't just connected via modem--they possess cell phones and pagers to boot. Such strong communication ties are welcome given the phenomenon of more two-working-parent households.

"The increased percentage of working mothers has shifted more responsibility to the preteen," Acuff says. "By 2001, [these kids will wield] something like $300 billion in influence."

Which is a reality that checks the heartbeats of all but the most jaded of entrepreneurs. Even corporate giants are eagerly targeting young spenders. For starters, there's hip home furnishings chain Pottery Barn's mail-order venture, Pottery Barn Kids. Add to that DKNY Kids, Limited Too, Gap Kids and Abercrombie & Fitch's well-publicized forays into kidswear, and you get a picture of how influential tweens are becoming. There are also kid-designated soaps, bottled water, radio and TV networks, platform shoes and--seriously!--mutual funds.

"This group definitely deserves its own stores," insists Dennis, who predicts Ch!ckaboom's 1999 sales figures will reach $2 million. "People say to me, `This is such a narrow niche.' It's not. It's a fantastic niche, and it's only getting better."

This article was originally published in the September 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Tween Beat.