Consumerist
Hey want to buy an "ionic air filter"? You don't? Is it because of that annoying class action lawsuit? Hey guess what? You're not the only one! After losing a class action lawsuit Sharper Image " said in court papers it fell victim to ``negative publicity'' as it fought lawsuits over its Ionic Breeze air purifiers."
What court papers? Bankruptcy court papers!
From Bloomberg:
Sharper Image Corp., the seller of $300 electric shavers and $1,999 massage chairs, filed for bankruptcy protection, saying it was running low on cash.Consumer Reports first busted the expensive "Ionic Breeze" air fresheners for being ineffective and potentially dangerous back in 2003, at which time Sharper Image sued the organization unsuccessfully, finally giving up and paying court-ordered attorneys' fees and costs totaling $525,000. More recently, the Sharper Image lost a class action lawsuit in which plaintiffs claimed that Consumer Reports was correct when it found that the air filters provided "almost no measurable reduction in airborne particles." A judge recently threw out a proposed settlement in which consumers who bought the expensive air filter would receive a $19 coupon.The retailer will shed 90 of its 183 stores and is seeking a $60 million loan from Wells Fargo & Co. San Francisco-based Sharper Image plunged as much as 80 percent in Nasdaq trading.
``Sharper Image is in a severe liquidity crisis,'' Rebecca Roedell, chief financial officer of San Francisco-based Sharper Image, said in court papers filed last night in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. ``The foregoing has been compounded by the ever-tightening and volatile credit and financing markets.''
Sharper Image air-purifier class-action update [Consumer Reports]
Sharper Image Files For Bankruptcy As Cash Dwindles [Bloomberg] (Thanks, Charlie!)
Comments
What I don't get is that the people I know who have the Ionic Breeze air purifiers swear by them.
I hope they don't close the store where I live. I rarely (if ever) buy anything there, but they're fun to go in to.
@ChrisC1234: Wouldn't you swear by your Ionic Breeze if you were dumb enough to spend $600 on something that is a health hazzard?
People "swear" by Monster Cables as well...
They used to swear about how lead used to cure gout, or how mercury could cure your veneral diseases.
Oh, boohoo, they put all their weight behind a product that was all smoke and mirrors and failed because of it? Somehow I don't feel sorry for them. I'm sure the executives all have golden parachutes of some sort.
And the only reason people thought their ionic breeze "worked" is because it made the room smell like bleach, and it caught enough dust particles to make the metal plates look black. Beyond that it was useless.
@ChrisC1234: Go go placebo effect!
Shouldn't the company that makes the air filters be responsible if they don't work?
They are amusing distractions when you have some time to kill much like brookstone. However I dont think I've ever purchased anything. They'd probably be better off sticking to skymall.
well damn!
Hey folks, guess what's coming?
STORE LIQUIDATION SALE. EVERYTHING MUST GO!!!
:P
I've always thought of those Ionic Breeze filters as an idiot beacon. When I walk into a home or a business and see one, I know there is an idiot somewhere in the vicinity.
@ChrisC1234: It's called confirmation bias. [en.wikipedia.org] There are some other cognitive biases at play here too though Laserjobs has the gist of it. Several studies have found that when you give people a choice of several products (which are all essentially the same) people tend to report that theirs is much better, but they start doing so only after they make the purchase. It's also the root of fanboyism.
It was a fun place to visit but I never actually bought anything there.
@hi: Yes, but Sharper Image sells the ionic air 'purifiers' under their name.
I got a small one for a xmas present one time, and one day I randomly searched and found out that it produces ozone. I threw it away right after.
I don't swear by mine, I sold it for 25 bucks after it gave me decreased lung capacity and sports related asthma. This was before the consumer reports review.
A true Monster Cable of Air Filters!
@RobinB: That's the whole appeal of Shaper Image, looking at stuff you'd never buy. It's like they took Sky Mall and made it into a store.
@soulman901: HELLL YEAHHHHH!!!
now i can get that coffee machine with ipod speakers that are also compatible with blue tooth!!!!
@Geekybiker: I've bought a few things from Brookstone, but never the Sharper Image. heck, you couldn't even afford a keychain at SI!
@NO.NO.NOTORIOUS
Wait, is that the model with the USB connection that hooks into your computer that can pull up news from some 3rd World country becuase they want you to believe the corporate giant cares if some poor kid it doesn't know gets fed or not?
@no.no.notorious: Unfortunately, if recent trends hold, the bluetooth iPod coffee maker won't be any cheaper at the liquidation sale.
I'm surprised it took this long for Sharper Image to go Chap 11. The internet really killed any stranglehold they had on being the go-to place for useless gadgets - with Amazon selling everything under the sun and tech blogs bringing new gadgets to the masses, no one needs the catalog or the mall storefront display.
I bought a pocket breathalyser from the store once.. it still provides a lot of fun on bing drinking nights with my pals!
SkyMall magazine will never be the same.
Hopefully Brookstone is to follow.
Damn, that's one less store at the mall I can point to and say "Overpriced crap"
The Sharper Image is still around?How 1980's is that!
I wonder if they still carry the limited edition Members Only Ferarri Jacket and Porsche Design sunglasses????
@ChrisC1234: From what I remember of the Consumer Reports review, the concept behind the Ionic air filters is pretty solid, but the Ionic Breeze has a big problem because it has no fan, and 'ionic action' isn't enough to cycle the entire air of a room in less than about a week. The ionic filters with built-in fans for air circulation worked tons better.
Oh dear, where will I get my lighted pepper grinders in the future?
i just bought a nice radio from them. i hope they know how to have a proper going out of business sale.
You don't say, a business model straight from (and stuck in) the 1980's doesn't work 20 some odd years later? Who'd a thunk it?
@Sherryness: OH, you can get the lighed pepper AND salt grinders at Costco for under $20 (for both!).
Jeez, talk about waiting for dinosaurs to die. I used to go to Brookstone and SI when I was scrounging for gift ideas, but they've both been replaced with the Electronic Gadgets section on Newegg. Where the else are you going to find a $20 ripcord-powered LED flashlight that can recharge your cell phone?
Um, I had my first (and only) asthma attack when we got an ionic breeze. I'll take my sneezing and invisible dust particles over that any day.
I can't believe how many people here have reported being sickened by this ionic breeze contraption. When I saw how much they cost I couldn't help but laugh my ass off at ANYONE who would rationalize the purchase of this so-called "air cleaner".
If only they had tried selling stuff that worked.
I am -glad- to see a company that systematically defrauded comsumers going bankrupt. I hope the ultimate settlement in the Ionic breeze cases finishes them.
The company that makes Enzyte should have the same.
@ SCHECTERSHREDDER
yeah isnt it amazingly easy to be a monday morning quarterback after all the reports come out.
oh I forgot no one here ever makes a consumer mistake, lol
at least I admit my gift of an ionic breeze was a mistake. are you going to admit to those 400 dollar monster cables?
heh
@Christovir: I do not own a PS3 or Bluray player yet since it's conception i have said PS3 is vastly superior to XBOX360 and that Bluray will destroy HD-DVD.
The PS3 has sold 10 million units 4 months ahead of XBOX360 with no super block buster games even, what will happen when GTA4 & MGS4 & FF13 come out? I'll be buying one for sure =]
Does anyone know what happened with this settlement that was rejected. There was a website setup about it, but the URL no longer works and no word on the status.
@soulman901: Line up for your ineffective air filter.
I believe the exact comparison consumer reports used was that it was as effective at pulling crap out of the air as a half grapefruit. The killer was the lack of a fan.
Definite idiot test. Definite junk science product. Probably a decent proxy for lottery ticket purchasers.
I use the ionic air purifiers (the less expensive Fry's electronics versions), and I like them, but it's just to make it so I don't dust as often.
In a city like Las Vegas, dust gets EVERYWHERE. It's like sand at the beach getting in all the cracks.
I don't claim that it helps my breathing any, but it does sure trap a hell of a lot of stuff.
I guess you just can't ALWAYS make a profit selling overpriced, low quality, useless junk. What's this world coming to?
@backbroken: HAHA!! My boss has one in his office!
First Wilson, now SI. The mall is dying. Even at the "Galleria" (which used to be the shit for Yuppies ) here in Birmingham stores are closing left and right. It seems the new upscale strip mall is the new way to get fools to let go of their money.
@woodenturkey: LOL...Galleria was "The Shit" ... LMAO.
This is going to cause a major identity crisis for pushy salespeople who think they're the shit because they work at Sharper Image. Seriously, the 'tude there is outrageous.
@airren:
Groovy, thanks! (I love Costco.)
Can't wait for the CompUSA / Wilson's model of store closing - let's all go pick up our "severely discounted" air purifiers after they mark up 100% then knock $35 off!
Woot!
they need to return to the business model that made them popular in the first place: selling James Bond style spy gadgets to grown men who fantasize about being Bond. FUN!!
I wonder if the Sharper Image at Easton Towne Center in Columbus is closing. Knowing the type of jackass that loves Easton, I'd imagine the Sharper Image there is one of the few that makes any money.
Whenever I'm around one of those IonicBreeze purifiers I always get short on breath and I get a bad headache. Glad to see their BS tactics are finally f'ing them over.
Retail 101: Don't have stores that are more fun to visit than they are to buy from.
I never understood Sharper Image, but at least at one point they stayed in shop centers that catered to the upper yuppie classes. Then they started showing up in every mall over 500,000 sq. ft., and they looked out of place.
Yeah, their stuff is cool, but pricey, and probably often overpriced. (The sliding-door CD player should have come down a long time ago.) And probably don't work nearly as well as they look (ditto).
Sounds like they banked hardcore on the Ionic Breeze, which seems to have satisfied both of those criteria as well.