Employee Benefit Plan

12 Months Ended

Jan. 28, 2012

Employee Benefit Plan

NOTE 13. Employee Benefit Plan

Effective January 1, 1995, we adopted the Hot Topic 401(k) Plan, or the 401(k) Plan.  All employees who have been employed by us for at least one year, maintained a minimum of 1,000 hours worked during the year and are at least 21 years of age, are eligible to participate.  Employees may contribute up to 25% of their eligible compensation to the 401(k) Plan, subject to a statutorily prescribed annual limit.  We may at our discretion contribute certain amounts to eligible employees’ accounts.  In January 2009, we began to contribute 50% of the first 4% of participants’ eligible contributions into their 401(k) Plan accounts.  We contributed $381,000, $384,000 and $319,000 to eligible employees’ 401(k) accounts during fiscal 2011,  2010 and 2009 respectively.