Gadget retailer The Sharper Image plans to close all of its remaining stores, its new owners announced Sunday.
The company expects to sell $50 million in inventory as it shutters 86 stores across the United States, joint owners The Hilco Organization and Gordon Brothers Group said in a statement.
The group, which purchased the gadget retailer's assets in a bankruptcy auction Thursday for $49 million, said it has developed a licensing strategy for wholesale, retail, direct-to-retail, e-commerce, and catalog businesses.
The Sharper Image filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, with plans to shut about half of its 184 stores and reorganize. The San Francisco-based company said it had lost more than $135 million since early 2005. The company put itself up for sale in April.
The Sharper Image may have been the favorite of geeks in the '90s, but it's now a shadow of its former self.
After being delisted from Nasdaq, filing for bankruptcy, and announcing that it will close 96 of its 184 stores, the end is near for the specialty electronics retailer.
Or is it?
In an interesting development, The Sharper Image announced on Thursday that its chairman, Jerry W. Levin, is stepping down to pursue the possibility of acquiring the company's stock and assets.
Neither Levin nor The Sharper Image were ready to speculate about what his plans are, but it begs a question: "What is going on at The Sharper Image?" It's a company that has flown under the radar for quite some time, and most have written it off as a relic of the past, but I think there's more to it than that. If nothing else, the soap opera over at The Sharper Image is extremely interesting to watch.
... Read moreDon Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Beamz, a forthcoming $600 "laser harp" that will be sold exclusively by Sharper Image, features one of the (unintentionally) funniest promotional videos ever. Gizmodo recently named it the worst product video of all time, and it's drawn a lot of ire over at the Create Digital Music blog, but I personally found it worth the view for a three-minute chuckle: the 70's-porn meets Weather Report intro, the faux-Halen "guitar solo," the quiet spa music played by a guy you'd never expect to be a massage therapist. (The inevitable spoof video is also pretty good.)
The product itself? I can imagine my two-year-old daughter really getting into it--any time we mess around with my 8-bit Yamaha keyboard, she always presses the demo button after a minute or two--and it's certainly no more harmful to the state of the musical universe than those plasma balls I used to stare at while listening to Pink Floyd back in high school. But $600? Wow. You can get a decent guitar for $600. Or if you don't want to learn to play a real instrument, an Xbox 360 with the special edition of Rock Band.
But hang on a second--I bet there's some pretty interesting audio circuitry in the thing. The songs are all preprogrammed, and breaking the laser beam simply triggers the next "note" in the solo sequence that goes atop the main bed of music. Seems like a little clever circuit-bending could create a remarkable instrument--like a theremin, only cheesier. Or weirder. It comes out on April 15. I'm hoping that by April 16, we'll see the first circuit-bending videos featuring the device. $600 is a lot to spend, but perhaps Gizmodo will offer theirs up for the cause.
(Credit:
Luxurylaunches)
It's hard to know where to begin in dismissing this telephonic atrocity. First, it's a prime example of the proliferating trend we refer to as luxury phones gone bad. As if that's not bad enough (and it is), this 24k "Signature Collection" handset from Alcatel is a special edition done for Sharper Image, which seems to be getting more tarnished all the time.
Making matters still worse, Luxurylaunches describes the specs as disappointing, with a "substandard 2-megapixel camera, flimsy keys, and small screen." Other than that, it's terrific. We were going to mention Alcatel's Playboy phone too, but now we're too depressed.
It saddens me slightly that future generations won't be able to experience trips to The Sharper Image, the now defunct mall electronics store that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection back in late February.
Despite the name, the Brew Master does no actual brewing.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Yesterday one of its relics made its way into my hands as a gag gift from a friend, and it's opened up my eyes to one of the many reasons the retailer wasn't doing so hot in today's gadgets market. The device in question? The Brew Master, a self-appointed expert to beers from around the world.
Nevermind that such information could be contained in a biodegradable 150 page book. Somewhere along the line someone thought it would be a good idea to make it plastic, electronic--and shaped like a beer.
The Brew Master doesn't actually brew beer for you. Instead it features a four-way navigation system with nested folders that hold the secrets of the golden brew in text form.
Contained within its 2-inch grayscale display are more than 1,500 beer reviews and ratings (from where it doesn't say). It's also nice enough to include an estimated price and style of the beer, as well as what part of the world it's from. Sorely missing is a picture of the label or any other identifiable markings--which is an unfortunate limitation of dot matrix LCDs.
Besides beer ratings there are toasts in each language, bar related jokes, as well as pairing suggestions in case you feel like doing some culinary feng shui with your PBR. The real killer application, however, is the built-in directory of taxi companies in case you're out for a night on the town with your Brew Master and need a way to get home. One can only imagine bringing this out for a night on the town though. Bring a plastic bag, because this puppy isn't waterproof.
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