The Today Show presented LightWedge with an early Christmas gift. A
mention on yesterday's show of the LightWedge Mini during a segment on
suggested gifts for seniors led to some 414 orders from retailers and
wholesalers. "We were hammered," owner
Jamey Bennett said. (The
product also was named by Wired as one of its 30 under $30 "gizmos,
gifts & stocking stuffers.")
Introduced in June, the Mini is pocket-sized and retails for $14.95. Among its fans is Roger Doeren, chief operations officer at Rainy Day Books, in Fairway, Kan. He called the Mini "the perfect cost-effective stocking stuffer in size and shape. It's something someone can turn on, use and appreciate immediately." He praised the Mini's "versatility. It has the capability to illuminate part of the page and magnify part of the line and also works as a flashlight. It can fit anywhere, is easy to operate and comes with a protective case and batteries." He noted that besides being used for books, it can light up and magnify menus, maps and other things.
A former lighting designer, Doeren (who told Shelf Awareness that when he started at Rainy Day, he moved from "lighting to enlightenment") said that when he discovered LightWedge at this year's BEA, he spent an hour and half talking lighting and put in orders for every product. "LightWedge is such an innovation," he continued. "Light travels downs the wedge and is evenly transmitted onto the page, illuminating it evenly. It doesn't bounce off the page."
Rainy Day markets LightWedges in its e-mail newsletter and has done well with it ever since its first order arrived in July. That day, a customer, watching staff begin to set up a display, bought a package of six at $39.95 each "before we even had put them into our computer system," Doeren said.
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Early next year LightWedge is "shifting gears a little," as Bennett put it, and introducing a line called Great Point Lights. Priced under $20, the line includes LED reading lights and magnification products. "We'll have four or five models, each with four to six colors," he continued. "In magnification, products tend to be lenses with a clunky black handle." LightWedge aims to change the design and use trendy colors. "The theory is that buying a magnifier doesn't have to make you feel old," he commented. "Lots of people need them, and we might as well make them fun."
The company will also package the Great Point Lights line in transparent packaging that will allow people to try them out easily. In addition, it's offering batteries that fit the products--perhaps the only batteries in the world with ISBNs.
LightWedge shipped its first orders in June 2002 and now has some 70 different SKUs.
Introduced in June, the Mini is pocket-sized and retails for $14.95. Among its fans is Roger Doeren, chief operations officer at Rainy Day Books, in Fairway, Kan. He called the Mini "the perfect cost-effective stocking stuffer in size and shape. It's something someone can turn on, use and appreciate immediately." He praised the Mini's "versatility. It has the capability to illuminate part of the page and magnify part of the line and also works as a flashlight. It can fit anywhere, is easy to operate and comes with a protective case and batteries." He noted that besides being used for books, it can light up and magnify menus, maps and other things.
A former lighting designer, Doeren (who told Shelf Awareness that when he started at Rainy Day, he moved from "lighting to enlightenment") said that when he discovered LightWedge at this year's BEA, he spent an hour and half talking lighting and put in orders for every product. "LightWedge is such an innovation," he continued. "Light travels downs the wedge and is evenly transmitted onto the page, illuminating it evenly. It doesn't bounce off the page."
Rainy Day markets LightWedges in its e-mail newsletter and has done well with it ever since its first order arrived in July. That day, a customer, watching staff begin to set up a display, bought a package of six at $39.95 each "before we even had put them into our computer system," Doeren said.
---
Early next year LightWedge is "shifting gears a little," as Bennett put it, and introducing a line called Great Point Lights. Priced under $20, the line includes LED reading lights and magnification products. "We'll have four or five models, each with four to six colors," he continued. "In magnification, products tend to be lenses with a clunky black handle." LightWedge aims to change the design and use trendy colors. "The theory is that buying a magnifier doesn't have to make you feel old," he commented. "Lots of people need them, and we might as well make them fun."
The company will also package the Great Point Lights line in transparent packaging that will allow people to try them out easily. In addition, it's offering batteries that fit the products--perhaps the only batteries in the world with ISBNs.
LightWedge shipped its first orders in June 2002 and now has some 70 different SKUs.