Our Homes Are Finally Safe: SkyMall Files for Bankruptcy, Citing Demise of Print

RIP SkyMall. I have to admit I did leaf through the SkyMall sitting in the back-seat pocket of my last flight from San Francisco to Dallas.

Then I used hand sanitizer.

The highly entertaining in-flight magazine tempts fliers with a host of items — mind boggling, totally useless but creative crap —  the solar powered cooling hat, the “Designated Driver” golf club beer tap, a wineglass holder necklace, an aerator wine glass, a litter robot,  those rings for wine glasses that help you “remember” your glass (oh just get a clean one!), a $999 portable spa, a Bigfoot garden yenti, a sumo wrestler table and my personal favorite, the most uncomfortable travel pillow in the universe, the SkyRest.

All of these items you would likely want to poke fun at more than buy. Which is why the company, which started in 1989, is shuttering. SkyMall suspended its retail catalog operation on Jan. 16.  Sadly, 47 of its 137 employees were laid off, according to the Wall Street Journal. SkyMall’s parent company, Xhibit Corp., is also seeking Chapter 11 protection. Gosh, Xhibit just bought the company in 2013.

Acting Chief Executive Scott Wiley said he was extremely disappointed and hopes the catalog can still find a way to exist. Good luck with that.

Mr. Wiley cited a “crowded, rapidly evolving and intensely competitive” retail environment as the reason for the quarterly publication’s recent struggles. “With the increased use of electronic devices on planes, fewer people browsed the SkyMall in-flight catalog,” he said.

He is absolutely right. The high net worth buyer who can shop and travel is increasingly utilizing electronic devices as their primary source of information, NOT newspapers. I told you how, last Christmas, when everyone was OOT and we were stuck home, I watched housekeepers pick up and dump piles of wet, rolled up newspapers loaded with pricey ads those people would never see.

Not only were fewer fliers browsing SkyMall, fewer were buying. The Journal says SkyMall’s retailing business had revenue of about $33.7 million in 2013, but only $15.8 million for the nine months ended Sept. 28, 2014. That’s like less than half. In the bankruptcy petition, SkyMall says it has assets between $1 and $10 million with liabilities of about $12 million. Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and US Airways are listed as the biggest unsecured creditors. Southwest Airlines planned to stop stocking SkyMall on their planes this year because, they said, no one read it.

Well, if we see Delta and American offering SkyRests in their first class cabins, you’ll know why: assets to cover their debt.