The City Mouse and The Country Mouse

Both Sharper Image and Lillian Vernon filed for bankruptcy last week, which reminds me of the oft told tale of “The City Mouse and The Country Mouse.”

You’ll recall in the classic Aesop’s fable, while both envious of each other's lifestyle (the grass is always greener) after a series of mishaps, they realize that they are most content when they are at home, and that while related, each is similarly distinctive.

That being said,  both Sharper Image and Lillian Vernon are related in so much as they are primarily gift stores. Sharper Image is a perfect City Mouse with its sleek interiors, urban locales, luxury profile, high-tech gadgetry and haughty sales staff. Lillian Vernon is a perfect Country Mouse with its quaint and cozy catalogs, home spun, and cottage made product, cutesy personalized items, and overly cheerful phone reps.

Sharper Image's stock and trade are items like the Turbo Groomer, $39.95, a motorized hair trimmer for men suffering from unsightly nostril and ear hair, no more plucking ouch! The Roomba 560 Vacuuming Robot, $349.75, oh it works, but is frightfully noisy. And the classic Panasonic Real Pro Ultra Total Body Massage Lounger, a motorized recliner that features Junetsu ultra-kneading, $4,799. But wait, there’s the Alco Hawk Pro Digital Breath Alcohol Detector, a pocket breathalyzer that helps you find out if you've had one too many--$139.95. Now I know what to get dad for Christmas. Unfortunately, Sharper Image's Ionic Breeze Airpurfier, which accounted for a good part of the company’s revenues, never worked. In fact, tests shows that it released harmful levels of ozone into the air, lawsuits not withstanding. Sharper Image is in arrears to UPS for more than $6 million. Say what? When I’m late on a $64 payment my shipping is cut off.

Lillian Vernon is a true Country Mouse with the saccharined "World's Best Grandma" Quilted Throw, just $59.98. And what well dressed woman wouldn’t want to wear the innovative Light-Up St. Patrick's Day Necklace--was $5.98, now just $3.98 (Valentine’s and Christmas versions also available). Drag Queens and Anna Nicole wanna-bes might like to purchase the hot pink Leopard Cats Bed Skirt, for $29.98, not available at Bed Bath & Beyond. And what guy wouldn't beam with pride when the Mrs. served his cholesterol laden nachos on the Football-Shaped Snack Plates--was $14.98, now $10.08 for the big game. Vernon’s low-low prices are irresistible, if her product is not.

Lillian Vernon, like Sharper Image, credits the downturn in the economy, the competition and prevalence of major discounters, and the trend among customers to hold back on splurge items in deference to having to meet high mortgages and oil prices, as precipitating the possible dissolution of their business. While that may all be true and contain much merit, one wonders how one gets into that predicament. Were there not tell tale signs? Did company executives not have a plan B? Maybe like the lesson of The City Mouse and The Country Mouse, both retailers will realize that to be most content one needs to appreciate its environment and realize that sometimes the grass is not always greener.

--Ron Knoth, Guest Blogger