According to the New York Times, more retailers are rushing to take advantage of what has become a $17 billion market for room furnishings designed to appeal directly to school-age youths.
It is a market, said Michael Wood, a vice president at Teenage Research Unlimited, that has “really exploded in the last two years.” And instead of leaving furnishing decisions to their parents, older teenagers and their 8- to 14-year-old sisters and brothers – called “tweens” by retailers – are proud, insistent even, about making those decisions themselves. Last year, teenagers and tweens spent an average of $386 each to decorate their own rooms – more than double the figure of a decade ago, according to Wonder Group, a youth-marketing company in Cincinnati.
Read: A young market that is growing fast [New York Times via IHT]