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Store employee Mary Brooks (left) and Pady Regnier, founder and owner of St. Croix Promotions and Retail, which operates the shop at Underwater Adventures Aquarium, Mall of America, Bloomington, Minn. Shark merchandise sells well to the teen demographic at the shop, according to Regnier.

quarium gift stores around the country are trying to find ways to reach that always difficult teenage demographic. Increased interest in technology has resulted in teens spending more of their money on iPods and Xbox systems than plush dolphins and souvenir T-shirts.

“I think the tween and teen demographic is really hard for gift retailers,” said Pady Regnier, founder and owner of St. Croix Promotions and Retail, which is a concessionaire for Underwater Adventures Aquarium in Bloom - ing ton, Minn. “Where it’s at is iPhones and cell phones and videogames and gadgets and devices. The really scary thing is that I see 5- and 6-year-olds going in that direction as much as 12- year-olds.”

Timothy Murray, retail buyer for the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, agreed: “They are just in between the cute things that little kids want and being an adult. So it’s hard to know what they want.” More...