this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2024
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I miss getting on a plane and reading Skymall to see what batshit crazy stuff they had to sell. Anyone else?

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 7 months ago

The trip to sharper image was not complete until you got to sit in the massage chair.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 7 months ago (2 children)

The spirit of it still exists in temu ads. Turn off your ad blocker for a minute and you'll be inundated with cheap plastic things that you think are great ideas and you'll use once and forget about.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

That’s a great point.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

You can't truly replicate the experience until you take those Temu products and mark the prices up 500% though.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago

Yeah dude that stuff always blew my mind as a kid. Browsing the real sharper image store then was a treat too. I got a skymall hot dog toaster one Christmas and it was amazing.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm convinced that all the stupid shit in Skymall is still available on the Internet, but I miss having it all collected in one place. The curated ridiculousness was perfect.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Big foot statue is there. It's legit.

Edit: although many, many things are listed as "sold out". Most things, in fact.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I used to love going into The Sharper Image and Brookstone stores at the mall when I was a kid.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

I used to love going in those two stores to sample the massage chairs.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

Yeah, they’re another good one.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

I got on a plane a few weeks ago and realized that I didn’t have headphones. I would have really liked something to read. AA does offer 20 free minutes of WiFi so I opened a bunch of tabs in my browser, but a skymall would ah e been read for sure.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Always wanted those shoes with the spring in your step

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's a map and you JUMP to CONCLUSIONS!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

This idea, this is the worst idea I have ever heard…

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Yes, Tom. Horrible.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I miss the Edge Company. It was like someone took The Sharper Image and slapped a medium-thick coat of 90's rad on it with a mild focus on EDC-style pocket junk.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It sounds like a clone of Hot Topic but aimed at the raver crowd.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

It was more of an edge lord vibe

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Wait, Skymall isn't a thing anymore? Here I thought I was just picking shitty airlines...

https://www.flyingsmarter.com/what-happened-to-skymall

"SkyMall declared bankruptcy in January of 2015, but they were purchased in April 2015 and relaunched the following month as an online retailer. There was a plan to get back into planes but that never really happened. Today, SkyMall is still an online retailer."

Huh, all online now...

https://skymall.com/

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I was more confused about what SkyMall even was. Even if I never went into one, I knew what Sharper Image was. I thought SkyMall must have been a regional chain.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Sharper Image style catalog in the seat back pockets on airplanes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Yeah, I don't fly if I can help it and I think frequent flyers overestimate how ubiquitous air travel is.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

A quick Google search shows both companies are still in business, so not much to miss? I imagine they are put SkyMall on some airlines

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

A ton of Sharper Image stuff gets sold at Walmarts in the "As Seen On TV" section.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Frys Electronics had like 1/4 of their store dedicated to this "As seen on TV" junk for a while before they closed down.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Wow. I didn’t even bother searching. Just assumed since I no longer saw it in the plane backseat they weren’t around anymore.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (3 children)

How about the DAK catalogs?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Or the "Things You Never Knew Existed" catalogs, which were by the guys that used to sell a bunch of the stuff in the back of comics, Boys' Life, etc (Johnson Smith Company) - X-Ray specs, fake dog poop, etc. But on steroids. Selling huge magnet things, car kits, Mr Mooney dolls, weird statues, magic kits, fake rocks, etc.

Edit: LOL, I found one. Man, brings me back to going through as a 9 year od:

https://archive.org/details/the-johnson-smith-company-catalog-913-circa-1991-starbrite

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

I convinced my mom to let me order some kind of “mega mind obelisk” from one of those. She kept saying how stupid it will be and I will regret it. “Be a good lesson learned”.

Until it showed up. I got a 6” tall marble obelisk that was the coolest thing ever. Didn’t teach me anything, but I had it for a long time and thought it was neat to look at.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Why have I never owned a wrist kite???

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

DAK catalogs were wild. Each item had a magazine article length description that was clearly bullshit. But by the end you're certain that the constant emptiness you feel is from not owning the World's Best 16 Channel Stereo Graphic Equalizer.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Holy shit. Well I still have the EQ, and also the Spectrum Analyzer attached to my new stereo.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Don’t recall that.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Not really. The world has changed so much that I don't think there's space for them anymore. But they were pretty great when I was a dumb kid.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Wait what? Have you seen what people order on temu or even amazon? It's way way worse now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Skymall and Sharper Image just couldn’t produce enough low quality stuff. They needed to produce single use toaster ovens.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Nope, not one bit.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I loved that stuff but never got to buy anything really. Probably for the best it was all junk in the end. Stuff that looked cool but you didn't need any of it really.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I did have one of their CD players that had cool blue lights and a motorized door that opened down. That thing was pretty wicked. I remember I didn’t have the remote for it for some reason, so I casually stole one from the display model at the sharper image store in the mall.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

But I felt like I needed ALL of it. of course couldn't afford any of it.

And for all the people like me who wanted all that fun stuff, there were probably some people out there who COULD afford all of it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

I like seeing Sharper Image stuff in thrift stores. Take their stuff out of the curated experience of their old mall stores, and it's obvious that it's plastic garbage.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

I miss when the products themselves weren't cheap garbage. Back in the early 00s they hit a stride of products that were cooler versions of products available everywhere else, same function, better form.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

For like a minute then I watch a movie on my phone

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Only if my battery runs out on the plane.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Do any Canadians remember The Little It Store?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Sometimes I miss DAK - I had their bread maker and gave it to my Dad when I moved overseas, and it made excellent - if round - loafs.