Sears Trouble & Party Supplies
It seems like Sears is in trouble.
And that's bad news for Sonic fans, as this big store often had a nice Sonic selection in the boys/teens area and even for little kids. In the heyday of shirts, Sears was a paradise of reasonably priced big selection. They often also had tees that seemed exclusive to them. Probably not by mandate= "nobody else is allowed to sell these", but more likely by happenstance= "we sell these, and others have the ability to, they just don't".
What is wrong with Sears?
You have probably heard that this company that also owns Kmart is in trouble in the USA. Lots of people point blame fingers at various things like 'the store looked run down' or 'the price doesn't compete with amazon', and stuff like that. Business Insider & other publications sate that it is closing lots of stores & then secretly closing more. Probably if they knew what was wrong they'd fix it and stop closing the stores. I, personally, do not know what's wrong but you can speculate all sorts of things if you want to. I wish they would fix it.
So what's the problem?
One of the "Invincible Sears" is closing.
Yes, it's the one I went to, in order to report stuff for SonicGear. LOADS of tee photos on these pages are from that particular store. It's called "invincible" because sometimes there's a store that's in like a really, really good place and this sweet spot would guarantee its success in the face of whatever challenges. Other stores in worse places would close, but that particular one should be immune to closing.
It apparently was not.
This is in one of the top malls in all of America, visited by every country vacation person, bustling at all times of every day, and never enough parking. You hear about 'malls dying', well this one can't grow itself fast enough because its just that prosperous. So why close that Sears there? It seems bad to do, people were always in it. It wasn't run down. Only business people will know, I guess. It really is too bad...
Party Supplies!
On a happier note, Party City is releasing a 2017 line of Sonic Party Supplies!
And...the design is really good still. It uses all modern CG, and includes Shadow, which many fans will enjoy. The line is not as big or diverse on stuff as some of the previous ones, but it's still really decent. (Like, no table decor, only 1 favor, no cardboard/wall stuff) All of the known supplies are now on their own page at Gear.
I guess they got tired of all the bootleggers making bank on 'your name here' party stuff, because this time you CAN customize banners and invites. Hopefully this will stop the shabby art-stealing printer bootleggers from making money off fake Sonic stuff. It seems like a case where there was demand for stuff like that for a while but it took them a couple of years to listen, and in the meantime fakers ran wild.
Next week:
Well, more stuff from Sears. The final items, actually, from one particular Sears. Hopefully some other store picks up BioWorld (maker of the majority) , because if this megaSears is closing, other fans are also out of luck.
And that's bad news for Sonic fans, as this big store often had a nice Sonic selection in the boys/teens area and even for little kids. In the heyday of shirts, Sears was a paradise of reasonably priced big selection. They often also had tees that seemed exclusive to them. Probably not by mandate= "nobody else is allowed to sell these", but more likely by happenstance= "we sell these, and others have the ability to, they just don't".
What is wrong with Sears?
You have probably heard that this company that also owns Kmart is in trouble in the USA. Lots of people point blame fingers at various things like 'the store looked run down' or 'the price doesn't compete with amazon', and stuff like that. Business Insider & other publications sate that it is closing lots of stores & then secretly closing more. Probably if they knew what was wrong they'd fix it and stop closing the stores. I, personally, do not know what's wrong but you can speculate all sorts of things if you want to. I wish they would fix it.
So what's the problem?
One of the "Invincible Sears" is closing.
Yes, it's the one I went to, in order to report stuff for SonicGear. LOADS of tee photos on these pages are from that particular store. It's called "invincible" because sometimes there's a store that's in like a really, really good place and this sweet spot would guarantee its success in the face of whatever challenges. Other stores in worse places would close, but that particular one should be immune to closing.
It apparently was not.
This is in one of the top malls in all of America, visited by every country vacation person, bustling at all times of every day, and never enough parking. You hear about 'malls dying', well this one can't grow itself fast enough because its just that prosperous. So why close that Sears there? It seems bad to do, people were always in it. It wasn't run down. Only business people will know, I guess. It really is too bad...
Party Supplies!
On a happier note, Party City is releasing a 2017 line of Sonic Party Supplies!
And...the design is really good still. It uses all modern CG, and includes Shadow, which many fans will enjoy. The line is not as big or diverse on stuff as some of the previous ones, but it's still really decent. (Like, no table decor, only 1 favor, no cardboard/wall stuff) All of the known supplies are now on their own page at Gear.
I guess they got tired of all the bootleggers making bank on 'your name here' party stuff, because this time you CAN customize banners and invites. Hopefully this will stop the shabby art-stealing printer bootleggers from making money off fake Sonic stuff. It seems like a case where there was demand for stuff like that for a while but it took them a couple of years to listen, and in the meantime fakers ran wild.
Next week:
Well, more stuff from Sears. The final items, actually, from one particular Sears. Hopefully some other store picks up BioWorld (maker of the majority) , because if this megaSears is closing, other fans are also out of luck.