Jim Speltz

Brookstone, the luxury-gadget retailer, won bankruptcy court approval of its plan to sell the chain to a group of Chinese buyers for about $174 million that will be used to pay creditors. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Linehan Shannon yesterday in Wilmington, Delaware, approved the sale to a company backed by the Chinese conglomerate Sanpower Group and the Hong Kong-based private equity firm Sailing Capital. The sale is the cornerstone of the retailer's bankruptcy exit plan, also approved today. "Today marks a new chapter in Brookstone's history," CEO Jim Speltz said in an emailed statement. 

With so many demands on your time, it's tough to break away and attend any function, but the NEMOA Spring Conference is simply one of the best events of the year. More than 500 catalog and internet retail professionals gather to network and learn from each other. It's worth attending.

As a robot rolled down the aisle welcoming attendees of NEMOA's directXchange conference to yesterday morning's keynote presentation, it was clear what the theme of Jim Speltz's speech would be: innovation. The unusual entrance for Brookstone's president and CEO — he followed shortly behind the robot that was broadcasting his voice to the crowd — exemplifies the culture of innovation embodied at the omnichannel retailer of unique gifts.

/PRNewswire/ -- Innovative product development company and multi-channel lifestyle retailer Brookstone, Inc. announced today that, for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012, consolidated net sales increased 11.2% to $89.1 million and EBITDA improved 18.1% to $(9.7) million from the first quarter of 2011. Net sales in the Retail channel increased $3.7 million, or 5.9%, to $67.5 million and same-store sales increased 7.9% as compared to the first quarter of 2011. These increases were due in part to improved selling efforts at our retail stores, offset by a net decrease in the number of stores from 300 to 284.