The youths congregated in malls but didn't buy much from the stores. And their sometimes raucous behavior led some adults — far removed from their own youthful exuberance — to shy away from the teens' hangouts.

While teenagers' behavior hasn't changed much over the years — at least, according to their frazzled parents — their spending power has grown dramatically.

And the trend has led an increasing number of retailers who once shunned the nation's youth to now embrace them as if the teens were their own sons and daughters.

"Teens are the fastest-growing consumer segment today, and retailers are highly aware of that," said Gretchen Marks, vice president of marketing for Coinstar, Inc., a Bellevue, Wash., company that conducts consumer spending surveys.

Another tracking firm, Teenage Research Unlimited of Northbrook, Ill., says U.S. kids between the ages of 12 and 19 shelled out $170 billion last year for clothes, music, electronics and other must-have items — almost triple teens' expenditures of $60 billion 10 years ago.

By 2006, U.S. teens are projected to have a buying power that will top $190 billion, a staggering 27.7 increase from 2001, thanks to higher earnings from jobs held by teens, as well as a jump in family expenditures on teens.

Darcey Curran, 16, of Bright, Ind., said she spends mostly her own money on clothes, food and entertainment, now that she has a job as a lift attendant at Perfect North ski resort in Lawrenceburg, Ind.

"I'm trying to save for college, so I don't spend as much as a lot of my friends," the high school sophomore said. "But when I do go shopping, it's usually with my own money. My parents might give me $50 a month."

Teens spending their own money and making their own decisions about where and what to buy has sparked remarkable growth for specialty chains, such as Hot Topic, Pacific Sunwear and the Cincinnati-based AMP apparel store, which serves the teen hip-hop music crowd.

"Teenagers these days have a lot of money to spend, and they're ready to spend it," said owner Rodney Cook, a software designer who opened AMP earlier this month, based on feedback from teenagers visiting his Web site, www.cincypeeps.com.

"We asked kids on the Web site what they thought we should bring to Cincinnati, and they said more cool clothing stores. We jumped on that train."

AMP is not alone. Even stores that most teens probably wouldn't consider cool places to hang out have expanded their offerings to attract the coveted teen market.

Sears, for example, recently began testing an urban store concept in 50 stores that features such labels as FUBU, rapper Ice-T's IceWear and Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons' Run Athletics.

Selling trendy apparel and hip sports gear is a proven strategy for targeting teens.

But even retailers who sell more mainstream products, from hardware to home furnishings, are targeting high school and college-age youth.

Less than six months after offering a mail-order catalog for teenagers, Pottery Barn — a decidedly grown-up retailer — has created a shopping Web site, www.pbteen.com.

The Web site offers furniture, bedding, storage, lighting, room and bath accessories, and rugs and window treatments, among many other items.

"Every teenager wants to be on top of the new, hot thing, and that includes furniture," Abigail Jacobs, a Pottery Barn spokeswoman, said. "The furniture on this site is designed with teenagers in mind."