Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/15/fare-thee-well-thinkgeek.html
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Early on ThinkGeek was neat. I liked the perk of having “points” but loosing the points after a time was weird. But like a credit card, if you don’t need it, then why buy things so you don’t loose your points it or spend the “points” for the sake of spending points.
I got some nice tools there that weren’t available elsewhere. I may be the only person that liked the Hydrokinetic Adjustable Wrench that reminded me of some sci-fi shows “hydro spanner”. It was a quirky tool, but it worked for me.
I think another winner were the Miracle Berry Fruit Tablets that I think helped a friend with some of the odd tastes in her mouth during chemo.
I find it weird that a company that has a fairly positive public persona would have IP tossed. Seeing as GameStop seems to be the butt of many a joke one would think GameStop would try to put the ThinkGeek brand on it’s self like a holiday sweater that is 1 or 2 sizes too small.
Edit: To add. I this day and age if I really want to show my “geekdom”, I’ll print my own badge for a bag (a good one or one I made) and call it a “bag of holding”. I don’t need a company to claim ownership of where I get my nerdy and geeky gear.
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their statement is an amazing use of the english language. i mean, i think it’s english. i mean, look. it’s got english-y sounding words. kind of.
i think maybe it said: “we’re closing think geek; game stop will be all your base.”
or, maybe: “free pancakes at 11.”
okay. i’m not really sure.
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I always felt it could have done better internationally if it sorted it’s shipping fees.
Here in the UK, i’ve ordered stuff from the UK, but has always entailed trying to combine orders from several people into one to combat the ruinous shipping fees.
Seems the prices were medium to medium-high to the US, but add shipping abroad and it got rather silly sometimes…
So they were essentially excluding vast amounts of potential market that other US companies don’t seem as badly affected by…
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I have always assumed that companies with huge shipping fees are making their real profits that way.
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So long, old friend. My Starship Enterprise pizza cutter will live long after and probably prosper more than you will as a subsidiary of Game Stop.
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Yeah it is hard to see this as anything other than doomed. GameStop is cratering hard.
The last time I went in a GameStop (maybe 2, 3 years ago) the pawn store vibe was so noxious I vowed never to set foot in there again.
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Sad day. I really enjoyed Think Geek’s style. It was my goto Father’s Day (for my Dad) and Birthday(for my wife) gift shop for a long time.
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April Fools’ Day will be much less entertaining.
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Awww, I loved Think Geek. It was a safe place to send my wife and kids for father’s day gifts! Sigh.
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What I’ll miss most are ThinkGeek’s Geek Trivia Nights at Jammin’ Java in Vienna VA. Our team almost always placed, and had a lot of fun in the process.
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Seems like ThinkGeek is the nega-version of Woot. Woot was acquired by Amazon, and still exists, albeit as a weird little outlet mall version of Amazon complete with third-party vendors. ThinkGeek must have been acquired by GameStop, the Blockbuster-style zombie of video games.
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I imagine that ThinkGeek was more popular than GameStop’s site (does anyone know their traffic?) and they are hoping to boost one with the other.
I expect the result will be the opposite, with GameStop stripping away any of the charm that remained at ThinkGeek.
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I believe the acquisition of ThinkGeek was intended as part of a pivot toward becoming the Hot Topic of gaming and geek culture (Hot Topic is more popular culture and will drop gaming the second it’s uncool.) Funny enough Hot Topic was the other big bidder in consideration. Basically GameStop wants to increase their profit margins by selling ThinkGeek merchandise instead of relying on dwindling used game sales.
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ThinkGeek was where I could get stuff let my Nerd Flag fly and find interesting caffeinated things to eat and drink. And it made April Fool’s a lot more fun. But I haven’t been there in years. That says something, maybe about them, maybe about me.
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Hmmm, let me check my card…
BINGO!
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Hey they still have the Boba Fett Blazer. You too can be stylin’ at your local con.
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First Gamestop would have to figure out how to stop punching itself in the face.
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Basically this. Digital distribution is eating their lunch money more and more every year, as is schemes which reduce used game sales.
You have seen it over the last decade with Gamestop flirting with hosting events, retro console sales, selling gaming merch much more, all kinds of different things just to make up for their shrinking market.
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