Hilco Consumer Capital LLC, Gordon Brothers Brands LLC and additional joint venture partners acquired The Sharper Image at auction on May 29 and have begun store closing sales at all 86 Sharper Image stores.
The new owners have developed a global licensing strategy for wholesale, retail, direct-to-retail, e-commerce and catalog businesses for The Sharper Image with the goal of tapping into the brand’s heritage of quality, excitement, innovation and fun.
Sharper Image filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February following years of declining sales. One of the problems that brought the early multichannel retail success story down was an over reliance on one product line. At one point, 60% of Sharper Image’s profits reportedly came from Ionic Breeze products. This became a liability once the Ionic Breeze’s efficacy was questioned and sales started dropping.
The Sharper Image joins a growing list of multichannel merchants that have recently filed for bankruptcy protection and ended up in an auction, including Lillian Vernon, which was sold to Taylor Corp. in April, and RedEnvelope, which Provide Commerce agreed to acquire at auction last week.
