The death of ThinkGeek
19Already noted by mikibell in the deals thread, but GameStop is killing ThinkGeek.
They claim they aren’t killing it, but I don’t believe them. There’s a 50% off sitewide sale (code movingday), but it’s already slim pickings. They say you have until the end of the month to redeem your GeekPoints, but there are only 7 items left to choose from. Until today, there have always been dozens of choices.
If you want to go pick over the corpse: https://www.thinkgeek.com/
What a sad way to die.
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Aw, I always liked browsing there.
Never bought anything, but still…
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
On the bright side, this will save me some money!
I wonder if they pulled a lot of items to put them for sale on game stop.
This is nothing new. Gamestop killed ThinkGeek shortly after they bought it…
Several sales ago I bought the last one of the potion bottle light up lamp.
You can buy it from GameStop’s think geek section:
https://m.gamestop.com/product/collectibles/lighting/light-up-led-potion-lamp-by-thinkgeek/127712
There’s a bunch of stuff over there.
@RiotDemon Looks like there’s a better ThinkGeek selection over there than at ThinkGeek. Of course, it’s not half price either.
Hmmmm
@blaineg yep. I searched think geek. Over 5k items.
Often shopped, never bought. We have too many dust collectors and things we don’t wear already…
I wonder if the transfer of GeekPoints to a GameStop coupon will have the usual value of a GameStop trade in?
I’m not sure why you think the company is going away. The moving sale is apparently due to them moving ThinkGeek to GameStop headquarters in Grapevine, but I don’t know how that spells death. They better not kill it off!
GameStop would be much better off selling ThinkGeek. GameStop would get some money and ThinkGeek would be in better hands.
@PooltoyWolf The ThinkGeek website dies at the end of the month.
All sales from the ThinkGeek site are final.
The staffers that were always in the product photos and videos seemed to slowly vanish after the the GameStop buy out.
I’m sure a zombified shell will shamble on for a while, but I think it is at least brain dead now.
@blaineg This sucks.
@PooltoyWolf Yes, it does. When GS bought TG several years ago, I figured it would turn out badly, but things seemed to keep going normally on ThinkGeek, so I kind of forgot about it.
Sucks to be right sometimes.
I used to shop at ThinkGeek all the time. I then had an annoying customer service experience, with a particularly annoying CSR. I thanked her for her time and politely informed her that I would never shop there again. I have kept my promise…
I have no idea why I decided to share this.
From https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/14/18679421/thinkgeek-shut-down-website-gamestop-geek-merchandise
"By way of explanation, a GameStop spokesperson would only provide the following business-speak: The company is “engaging in a strategic business transformation initiative to build the GameStop of the future,” and that as part of that effort “we have made the decision to reorganize our ThinkGeek business by streamlining the operations of our ThinkGeek.com ecommerce platform and transitioning it within our GameStop.com omnichannel platform.” "
If corporate double speak isn’t a death sentence, I don’t know what is.
@blaineg Folding it into the GameStop site is a surefire death knell. Such a stupid decision.
@blaineg omnichannel platform, @cinoclav, omnichannel platform!
@cinoclav @therealjrn Yea, the “omnichannel platform” kinda sent a shiver up my spine. So maliciously meaningless.
The other big red flag is “a curated selection” of TG products. Translation, “a tiny fraction” of what was.
@blaineg @cinoclav @therealjrn “maliciously meaninglessness” is an excellent way of describing this.
How did this type of talk become so rewarded that there’s an entire subculture using it? Idiots. It all just says, “I’m choosing not to communicate with you. I think I have a vocabulary, implicitly think you don’t, and am saying my preformed belief of your lack of intelligence means you’re not worth my time.”
@blaineg @cinoclav @stinks @therealjrn GameStop’s statement above might be the most biz-speak thing I have ever read in my life. Heck, you remove all the words that aren’t corporate buzzwords and you can still almost understand it. Blah.
Aww man. I got my Zero Point Energy Manipulator there.
Remember when they hoarded NES Classics prior to them being discontinued, then started selling them exclusively in bundles with other useless “collectible” merchandise? Granted, the artificial scarcity was Nintendo’s fault to begin with, but ThinkGeek exploited the people who weren’t able to get one at the time.
Even if they didn’t do shady stuff like that, ThinkGeek was basically just an online dumping ground of tacky plastic crap with “white elephant gift” written all over it. Several people here readily admit to never actually buying anything from them… and “Dumping Tacky Plastic Crap” is literally Meh’s mission statement. What does that tell you?
Yeah, it’s really sad to see ThinkGeek get consolidated into an even worse brand, what a tragedy…
@CustomerChair Idea: Mediocre buys ThinkGeek.
@CustomerChair Yes, but that was the post-GameStop ThinkGeek. TG’s soul was already being devoured by then.
Glad I got my twerkbot 9000 and gear cube at the last clearance blowout.
They had some cool stuff but usually not at prices I wanted to pay. If I had access to my adult income and thinkgeek at age 20 I probably would have had a ton of their stuff in college though.
Aw, they recently added fat chick sizes - I was excited, and got an awesome light-up constellation skirt. And I always wanted to spend money on shit for my “geek shelf”, but could never justify spending money on it. But I’d occasionally buy stuff from them, mostly gifts for geeky friends.
Way, way, WAY back in the day, they had a webcam showing their office. I was -really- bored at work one day, watched it and made a gif…
If I remember right, they briefly hung a “beware of bean bag” sign after I made that. They probably thought I was a creepy stalker, though…
POPSOCKETS! COURT DOCKETS! FOLK ROCK HITS! AWESOME!
I feel badly for you people feeling the loss of beloved online retailer Think Geek. You have my sincere condolences.
But I have to admit, I’m another of the lookie-lou’s that never bought anything. I’ll join you in morning the loss of my window-shopping experience.
Hmm… it looks like they stocked up on a lot of Game Of Thrones crap that probably didn’t sell. Sad way to go.
Too bad I am broke. I like the constellation hat. Of course I don’t even close to need it so I’ll live…
In an effort to not be all doom & gloom, Vat 19 is a good toy store.
https://www.vat19.com/
@blaineg How are their boxes of crap? (https://www.vat19.com/item/mysterious-box-of-mystery)
Seem pricey.
@blaineg @medz
/youtube dope or nope vat 19 mystery boxes
@medz Haven’t tried their BOCs, I agree they seem expensive.
@blaineg @medz @RiotDemon it’s so embarrassing how much I love unboxing videos. It’s been like a decade now, I need to get OVER IT.
@blaineg @medz @UncleVinny just embrace it.
That’s just rubbing salt in the wound.
75% off what’s left, and more things listed in GeekPoints, $5 minimum order.
I’ve wondered if this might be happening. Gone are the days of the Think Geek catalogue with the same 6 women’s tshirts every issue. We lost a good one.
It’s dead and buried. thinkgeek.com now redirects to a page on gamestop.com.
@blaineg sadz…
@blaineg @mfladd Yahoo paid Mark Cuban $5.7 billion for broadcast.com…
It now just redirects to yahoo.
@blaineg @therealjrn Dude, I seriously want a bromance with Mark Cuban.
@mfladd @therealjrn Yahoo is kinda of a long term study in how to royally mess up.
Officially dead now, I guess. Very sad. I bought quite a few things from ThinkGeek over the years, starting way back in 2009 with my ‘T-Qualizer’ light-up EL spectrum analyzer shirt (which I still have!). Most of it was only available from them. I’m still using my Back to the Future Flux Capacitor USB Car Charger and my Mini Bluetooth Vintage Stereo, and I snuggle with my Corgi Cutesy Roll pillow every night. My mom and I placed our final orders at 75% off near midnight on the final day, July 2nd: I got a Super Mario Bros. World 1-1 Lounger (sleepwear) for $15 and a ThinkGeek 20th Anniversary T-shirt (how ironic!) for $5, and Mom bought an Iron Giant pullover hoodie for $10. I really loved and enjoyed their website and getting their e-mail newsletter with all the fun writeups and new stuff in them. It’s really sad to think that the office in Fairfax, once full of people who probably genuinely enjoyed going to work every day, is now dark and empty.
RIP ThinkGeek.com…you will be missed.
My ThinkGeek version of the Despair calendar notes that the 13th was ThinkGeek’s birthday in 1999.
Shame they didn’t make it to 20.
You gotta let them go @blaineg, you just gotta.
@therealjrn
But it’s hard, I gave them the best 20 years of my life!
@blaineg @therealjrn Fun fact I just got a $5 dollar reward certificate email from the ThinkGeek overloads good at Gamestop. Like 2 minutes ago.
@blaineg @sammydog01 @therealjrn
yeah, me too, i laughed
@therealjrn Yea, yea, I know,
But sometimes schadenfreude is delicious.
https://kotaku.com/gamestop-lays-off-over-100-people-including-nearly-hal-1837418024
@therealjrn To be clear, I mean the ongoing implosion of GameStop, not the poor folks getting laid off.
Sounds like management has no idea what they are doing.
dang it… now i HAVE to fix my little “Dorm Fridge”
there’s still a Timmy Sticker on the door…
They converted my geek points to a coupon that expires soon
@mikibell They owe me for Geek Points, but I haven’t got anything from them yet.
@blaineg hmmm probably a rolling email process?? Someone else posted they received a coupon a few days before I did…
I used.my coupon towards this… I know it is only August, but these suckers sell put fast!
@blaineg they sell out…