The Sharper Image: Creating Better Desires

It was Simon and Schuster founder Richard Simon who said, “One book is an item, two is a line.” Young Thalheimer intuitively understood that Simon’s dictum applied to all businesses.

In a recent interview with Sales And Marketing, Thalheimer said, “My mission at the time was to find products that were interesting and unusual and put them together, first in a catalog and then, in 1981, in a store. We had a mix of unusual products, like the first cordless telephone. The idea was to show people unique and interesting products that they wouldn’t find everywhere else.”