Getting ready for freshman year at Lewis and Clark High School is serious business. Fourteen-year-olds Christine Beamer and Katie Rowlett and Hannah Koeske, 13, were stocking up on the essentials during a back-to-school shopping trip to NorthTown Mall last week.

The three picked up a few things at JC Penney's, then walked side- by-side to the food court for lunch to share one plate of rice, vegetables and teriyaki chicken.

"We want to have more money for clothes," Koeske said with a laugh.

They've earned some of their spending money by doing chores and baby-sitting and by saving allowances and money they've received as gifts.

Their simple shopping trip alone won't make a huge economic impact, but it's a small part of a burgeoning economic sector -- the teen economy.

In Spokane and Kootenai counties there are 51,700 youths between the ages of 12 and 18. Nationwide, there are 30 million teens, and many more are on the way. Between now and 2005, the teenage population is expected to grow twice as quickly as the population as a whole.

And those teens spend money -- lots of it. Last year American teenagers spent $153 billion, up 8.5 percent over what they spent in 1998, according to Teenage Research Unlimited. And with no rent, utilities or health insurance payments to make, that money usually is disposable income, mostly spent in retail shops, restaurants and movie theaters.

Retailers all across the country are scrambling to get a bigger piece of the teen business.

They want to appeal to teens like Robbilynn Mathews, 15, and Stacie Strauser, 14, who were also cruising the NorthTown mall last week.

The two wandered from store to store, checking out accessories, rubbing on scented hand lotion and trying on clothes. They scout for things that warrant a trip back to the mall to purchase with their parents.

On this day Mathews had just $7 to spend. Other days she has more, but whatever she has, she spends. "If I come to the mall with money, it's gone by the time I leave," she said.

That's music to merchants' ears.

Malls count on teen shoppers, said NorthTown marketing director Leora Gendreau. Many of the J.P. Realty-owned mall stores are geared specifically at that age group.

"We've had American Eagle Outfitters and Anchor Blue open," said Gendreau. Other popular teen spots include accessories store Afterthoughts and clothier Hot Topic.

Variety is vital when it comes to often-fickle teens who can be into preppie clothes one month and punk styles the next.

Spokane's selection of stores also attracts teens from the Inland Northwest's smaller communities.

Nate Barber, 16, and his brother Zach, 13, traveled from Kettle Falls to check out the stores in Spokane.

"We come down about five times a year to shop," said Nate, adding that he spends most of his money on CDs. Spopping choices are much better in Spokane than in Kettle Falls, he said.

"Having that variety for teenagers is very important," says Gendreau. "Teens have a lot of expendable income. Whether they're working for it or get it from their parents, they're spending money."

The Spokesman-Review's weekly "Our Generation" teen section this spring commissioned a survey of young people's likes, dislikes, favorite activities and spending habits.

Some 400 Spokane and Kootenai County youths aged 12 to 18 were interviewed in the telephone survey, conducted by Dallas-based Belden Associates in March and April.

The survey found that 83 percent of area teens spent, on average, $41.40 just on clothes over the previous 30 days. Doing the math, that means area merchants are competing for about $2 million a month spent by teen clothing customers. And the survey wasn't even taken in back-to-school season.

Spokane and Kootenai County teens also spend a lot of money on entertainment. Some 93 percent of the teens interviewed had spent money on eating out, going to a movie, bowling, playing miniature golf or some other form of entertainment, spending an average of $33.30 in the previous 30 days.

The survey found that girls spend about 50 percent more on clothes than boys, but both boys and girls spend about the same amount on entertainment items.

Jessi Warnock and her friends like to go to movies and are into photography.

The 16-year-old North Central student drives her own car (a hand- me-down from Mom) and has her own phone line. Two months ago, she bought a cell phone.

"All of my friends have cell phones," says Warnock.

She and her friends spend their money on clothes, CDs, books and fast food. And, like 58 percent of her peers in Spokane and Kootenai counties, Warnock gets money from her parents on an as-needed basis.

The Belden survey said area teens also get spending money as gifts (54 percent), allowances (37 percent) and by working at part-time jobs (39 percent).

A quick look at commercials for products and big box discount retailers indicates the importance of the teen economy. Ads for Target, the big box discount retailer, for example, feature teens, kids and young adults dancing to rock music with a kalidescope of products whirling behind them.

Marketing to teens can be complicated, especially since they don't like to feel like targets, said Mark White, creative director for WhiteRunkle Associates of Spokane.

Teens are more cynical today than in years past, White said. The hard sell -- `This is the best brand of soda out there' -- just doesn't cut it anymore.

"They don't like to be sold to," says White. "A lot of advertisers put together a hip mix and hope that appeals to the (teen) audience and that the product shines through."

WhiteRunkle often uses humor to get through to the under-20 market.

This summer, the company was in charge of Silverwood's advertising campaign. The TV commercials have been a hit with all age groups. In particular, says White, the Tremors roller coaster spots ("The gift shop now stocks clean underwear. . .") have received much positive reaction.

Though it does influence teens, advertising doesn't work unless the product or store lives up to the image, says Heidi Craig, 19, a University of Washington student working at the downtown Rocket Bakery for the summer.

"There is a total difference between how they market and the way a lot of places treat you when you go in them," she said, naming no particular stores.

A store's image can count as much as the products it sells and many retailers spend thousands to make sure they are hip, happening places to shop, especially since teens can linger in one store for hours.

At Spokane's new Nordstrom store, curved-screen televisions feature the latest music videos and funky lighting fixtures adorn the Brass Plum, the department store's juniors department. It's designed to attract 12-24-year-old girls and young women.

"The environment is really, really crucial to where she shops because she has so many choices out there," says Bonnie Junell, Nordstrom's vice president for the Northwest juniors and kidswear divisions.

Missing the beat can be costly for retailers. Racks of clothing covered in embroidered flowers can spell disastrous sales if "pleather" (polyester leather) and animal prints are the "in" thing.

Nordstrom keeps track of what's in and what's out by watching key major cities, keeping an eye on fashion magazines and by tapping into the minds of the store's fashion boards, made up of local high school students, says Junell.

"Our consumer loves music, fashion and cosmetics and likes to track what celebrities are doing," she said, adding teen department buyers are given more flexibility to customize each store's array of products.

Even if teens aren't the bread and butter of a business, they still are important consumers for future years.

The Bon Marche made a big pitch to teens a few weeks ago with its fall promotional magazine mailing for juniors (young women) and young men's departments. Inside were pages of the latest fall fashions and a "freedom card," a customized version of the general Bon gift card.

After parents decide the spending limit and pay up-front at the store, the card is activated and kids can use it in any department.

"It's kind of a way of saying, `Here I trust you to go out and select your own clothes,'" said Beth Lewis, manager of the downtown Bon.

Lewis predicts that the new cards will appeal to parents who don't have the time to go back-to-school shopping with their kids and to teens who prefer to shop with friends, not parents, and also like the freedom card's credit card feel. Parents also will like limiting the expenditures upfront.

"The teenagers are very important to the department store," said Lewis. "They are the job holders and shoppers of the future. You need to build that market."

Some retail companies work hard to outfit their customers from cradle to grave, said Lynne Bremer of the Fandel Retail Group in San Francisco.

The Gap, she says, is a prime example.