Buyer of failed Sharper Image has innovative plan

Liquidators who snared the leftovers of Sharper Image for $49-million are shutting down the chain's last 86 stores, including one in Tampa's International Plaza.

Expected to last about two months, the liquidation sale started this week with discounts of 20 to 40 percent at all nine remaining Sharper Image locations in Florida. The Sharper Image in Westfield Citrus Park closed a month ago.

But don't say goodbye to this well-known brand that in its heyday in the go-go 1980s symbolized the latest high-tech gadgetry and pricey novelty goods.

Sharper Image may have lost its edge after its big sellers became mainstream and its product development team ran out of ideas at Ionic Air Purifiers. But the new owners plan to develop more new Sharper Image products and sell them online and through other stores.

"We see a lot of potential expanding this brand, especially internationally," said Rick Kaye, executive vice president of Hilco Merchant Resources, the Chicago merchant services firm that bought Sharper Image out of bankruptcy in a joint venture with Gordon Bros. Group of Boston.

Sharper Image closed most of its 187 stores after a dismal holiday season. Hilco won a stalking horse auction for the company Friday over a group of Sharper Image managers.

Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8252.