Washington Post | The Future Was Then | The Times Have Caught Up With That Erstwhile Icon of Modernity, the Sharper Image | By David Segal | Washington Post Staff Writer | Wednesday, February 27, 2008; Page C01
“For all of its flaws as a business, nobody can accuse the Sharper Image of over-promising. Then the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced it would close 90 of its roughly 180 stores “as soon as possible.” …What are we losing? A world of luminescent safety leashes, hideaway gyms, telescoping ladders –”
A trip to any upscale mall for me always warranted a stop at Sharper Image.
As intriguing as the store visit always proved, truthfully, as a location scout (or otherwise production professional) I never actually bought much, as amusing as vibrating armchairs and inflatable travel pillows could be… I am sure they must sell GPS’s, compasses, walkies and number of electronic gadgets types like me tend to become obsessed with… the feeling is always, “that’s kewl, but I’ll bet I can it cheaper at another store or buy it online?” – Maybe I am just a bit too practical (?) – paying for the privilege to shop in a “posh” mall as opposed to finding a lower price in a perhaps more utilitarian atmosphere was never an overriding priority for me – maybe much of the buying public in general has grown so as well and maybe this is at least part of Sharper Image’s problem (?)
As many other “mall magnets” are discovering, there seems to be a trend of potential buyers making the trip to the mall to look – then buying online (Sharper Image does in fact have a web storefront presence) …so then the question would be, “is the expense of maintaining stores in high rent upscale malls worth the sales volume generated by in-store sales and internet sales?” …evidently not – or maybe the Sharper Image corporate pockets are not sufficiently deep to weather a transition?
Sharper Image’s current solution appears to be to declare bankruptcy in order (I would expect) to reorganize with an alternate business model and / or with the possibility of selling the business in mind. Sharper Image is a well established brand, so I would be very surprised to see it drop off the face of the earth altogether.
The title of the Washington Post article this post was excerpted from on Digg (and here as well) is titled “Sharper Image : The Future Was Then” – and this rings true for me – when I think of Sharper Image it just seems a little tired and very “80′s”.
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