• Los Angeles Times, Monday, March 29, 2010 10:41 AM

Let's start the week off with some good news: The most ideal consumer in the universe is returning to the malls. We're talking about teens, of course, who are unhampered by debt and who tend to spend freely -- both with their time and [their parents'] money.

Reports Andrea Chang: "Teens are hanging out at the mall after school again, goofing around with friends in dressing rooms, snacking on junk food at the food court -- and giving retailers hope that they'll help kick-start a greater wave of spending industry-wide."

There have been two straight months of year-over-year sales increases for teen retailers after 18 months of declines, according to Thomson Reuters. Even Abercrombie & Fitch, which had 20 straight months of negative sales, posted an increase in January (8%). Teens overall are spending about 6% to 8% more compared with a year ago, according to Marshal Cohen, the chief industry analyst at NPD Group.

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