Brookstone Succumbs to the Sharper Image Flu

Brookstone, that gadget retailer you see at the airport but never shop, has filed for bankruptcy protection as it negotiated a deal to sell itself. The retailer, which offers $4,600 massage chairs and a $300 “mobile pocket projector,” appears to have succumbed to the same retail woes that toppled Sharper Image in 2008. That company closed after more than three decades of selling expensive massage chairs and air purifiers, felled by the deep recession that made consumers much more conscious about their spending—spelling doom for merchants of purely discretionary stuff.

It seems that a $3,000 Pac-Man arcade game figures into fewer purchasing decisions these days. Beyond the hefty prices at a brick-and-mortar store, another problem bedevils purveyors of such niche products: the Internet. That’s the natural home for the most specialized, weirdest, goofiest, and even spookiest kinds of stuff a shopper could want, and likely at a cheaper price than a Sharper Image or Brookstone could offer. (Sharper Image lives on as a licensing operation run by Iconix Brand Group, with the brand stamped on numerous products, such as binoculars and bedroom slippers sold by such retailers as Macy’s and Bed Bath & Beyond. )