Ever wanted your own talking Yoda, build your very own version of Stonehenge, have a pair of battery heated gloves or a NASA tested pen? For these and other whacky and often irrelevant gadgets, this site will quench your thirst for the one-off curious, most of the time useless.
If you're a genuine geek, you can spend hours browsing the site. You can look by category, such as Big Boys Gadgets, Lifestyle Gadgets and Games and Gifts. There are also featured gadgets that depend on the season plus top sellers, new gadgets and a search facility. If you get bored, you can while away the time doing the quiz (no, we didn't bother).
The site is run by, appropriately enough, The Entertainer (Amersham) Ltd, which claims to be the largest independent retailer of toys in the UK. The company also operates TheToyShop.com.
The business was founded in 1991 and went into administration in 2005. Don't worry! All trade marks and domain names were then acquired by the current owner and it became an exclusively online operation.
The original company was at the centre of a notorious and well publicised court case around the time of its demise in 2005. At the time it's main investors were Chris Gorman, who starred in the TV series 'Make Me a Million', Scottish Entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter, who made his money selling trainers, financial firm UBS's super trader Jon Wood, Jim McMahon and Peter Wilkinson, the founder of Freeserve. The company was apparently planning to buy another business called Birthdays but Wood and Wilkinson alleged that Gorman and Hunter stole the deal by buying it themselves.
Although Birthdays made big losses and was closed within twelve months of the acquisition, Wood and Wilkinson claimed it would have created a £300 million business. The ensuing court case led to allegations of lying and dirty dealing. There were also stories of heavy drinking, dancing on tables in holiday resorts and tears being shed in board meetings. In the event, Gorman and Hunter won the case but the four parties had to share £10 million in legal costs.
The revelations of the case are perhaps in keeping with the nature of the site. With its dumbbell alarm clock, a pink gardening set for the outdoor girl and a paintball magnum dueling pack, it's not to be taken too seriously.
Despite its light-heated nature, buying is a serious business and the operation isn't that highly rated by its customers. There are the expected extremes of five star ratings down to no stars from individual reviewers. Value for money and the quality of the website get the highest ratings, with customer service generally being judged as poor. However, if you desperately need a pair of radio controlled sumo wrestlers or a lav nav (don't ask), maybe you'll give them a try.
As of September 2009, the company was launching a new marketing campaign and increasing its catalogue print run to give the brand a higher profile.
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