insideyournwa.com

Sharper Image is holding a store wide liquidation in their Pinnacle Hills Promenade location in preparation of their closing. Don’t worry though if you are a fan of the Promenade you will be happy to know that Sharper Image is closing due to corporate bankruptcy. If you are a Sharper Image fan on the other hand you might want to go buy that overpriced gadget you’ve always wanted for 25% off.

How could Sharper Image go bankrupt you ask? Well here is my take on it. Retail space is expensive in any location a Sharper Image works in and Sharper Image tends to get a large store. When you go into a Sharper image you play with the stuff on the outside walls but you never go into the center because there is no merchandise. So the first problem is they are wasting a ton of space.

Next they have to fight with the fact that retail is down all across the board (unless you are Wal Mart but that is another story). People are not spending on a bunch of extra gadgets which is a staple of Sharper Image.

Another problem however is they have not kept up with their stores. It used to be an event to go into a Sharper Image to see what was the latest and greatest. In the time since Sharper Image opened in Rogers I have only seen a handful of new things grace their shelves. Now when you go in you play with the broken display that was cool 2 years ago and you don’t see anything new. This makes me not want to even step foot in the store.

With a population going to the internet and other retailers Sharper Image just couldn’t hold on to their old business model. They used to be able to sell gadgets for outrageous prices to early adapters. Now they have the same stuff as everyone else and even get it after other people many times and still want the high price.

Goodbye Sharper Image - I have missed you for years now. Hello new beginnings - I can’t wait to see what is coming next.