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ABOUT RICHARD
 Richard Thalheimer founded
The Sharper Image in 1977, beginning with a $200 ad for a runner's chronograph in Runner's World magazine.
Today, he leads a public company with 2004 revenues of $648 million. Sharper Image Corporation is a multi-channel
specialty retailer that is renowned as a leading source of innovative new products. The Sharper Image brand is
one of the retailing industry's strongest - a brand name that conveys excitement and entertainment, design and
creativity, uniqueness and innovation, shopping that is fun and customer service that is excellent.
Over 75 percent of the company's sales are now attributable to proprietary items created by Sharper Image Design,
the Company's product development group, and by Sharper Image brand private-label merchandise. The Company's
principal selling channels now include 180 Sharper Image stores, a monthly Sharper Image Catalog, single-product
mailers, direct print advertising, television infomercials and online its primary Website. Additional
business-to-business revenues are contributed by wholesale of Sharper Image brand products to selected retailers
and by sales of exclusive products for corporate incentive and reward programs.
In the world of specialty retailing, there is no place like the Bay Area for founding entrepreneurs - Merv Morris
of Mervyns; Don Fisher of Gap; Mel and Patricia Ziegler of Banana Republic; Chuck Williams of Williams-Sonoma;
Tom Wrubel of The Nature Company; Paul Hawken and Dave Smith of Smith + Hawken; Stephen Gordon of Restoration
Hardware; and, of course, Richard Thalheimer of The Sharper Image.
Richard Thalheimer still leads the company he founded as a young man after graduating from Hastings Law School
in San Francisco. Still a visionary entrepreneur, he continues to head the marketing, merchandising and product
selection for a multi-channel enterprise that is fast approaching a billion dollars. He was the creative force
of Sharper Image Design, the company's in-house product development group that now accounts for more than half
the company's sales. A decade ago, he was one of the first to recognize the power of the Internet and was the
driving force behind the launch of The Sharper Image's e-commerce Website.
In 1999, Catalog Age magazine included The Sharper Image Catalog in their cover story on "The 10 BEST Catalog
Concepts Ever" - noting that Richard Thalheimer was "seminal in creating and influencing the catalog business"
by being the first direct marketer "to make it cool for well-to-do, educated guys to buy by mail." In 2003,
Richard was named Direct Marketer of the Year by Target Marketing magazine, headlining their cover story "Master
of Multi-channel Marketing."
2007 CeCNC Direct Marketer of the Year
2006 CeCNC Direct Marketer of the Year
2005 CeCNC Direct Marketer of the Year
Lifetime Achievement Award
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