Brookstone Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Plans to Close Mall Stores

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Subscription required.

Brookstone Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Plans to Close Mall Stores

The company said it would put its 35 airport stores up for sale

By Patrick Fitzgerald

https://twitter.com/patfitzgerald23

Aug. 2, 2018 8:54 a.m. ET

Brookstone Inc., the specialty retailer known for selling massage chairs, travel gadgets and other novelties at malls and airports, filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday and said it would close its 101 mall-based stores.

The company said it would put its 35 airport stores up for sale. Those locations are still performing well, the company said. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Brookstone was in talks with liquidators to close its mall-based outlets.

...
TO READ THE FULL STORY

[janterry]

1. It was fun while it lasted

n/t

[unblock]

2. great place to window shop. some really cool stuff for people with money to burn....

[ret5hd]

3. Money to burn...

I guess one family per store wasn't enough for profitability!

[unblock]

5. frankly i'm amazed they survived this long.

too expensive, and mostly the sort of thing you only get as gifts for other people. that's may be a decent, small, seasonal business model, but not a solid year-round one.

[left-of-center2012]

4. I liked the catalogs, but never bought anything n/t

[unblock]

6. the stores are the same.

there's always some customer trying out the comfy massage reclining chairs they have up front, but no one actually ever buys them.

[C_U_L8R]

7. Brookstone totally lost their way. Surprising that bankruptcy took so long.

Brookstone once owned a wonderful niche - hard to find tools (and other fine things).
Their products were fabulous and needed. And people adored them.
But poor strategy and greed pushed them to an ever-blander offering...
no better or useful than the worst airport store.
They lost their brand, they blew it with ecommerce,
their products became cheap useless junk made somewhere in asia,
they totally missed the maker movement, and they made
a joke of their business. What a shame.
I wonder if they'd really do it differently if they had a redo.