Australian Geographic Retail to close

[Tejas (Ben)]

reports out today that the australian geographic retail arm is to close in the first half of next year.

whilst i do think they are massively overpriced for there scopes ($999 for a 10" collapsable dob whereas my local independent shop was $835) it is still a shame to see another company exiting this market.

still - may be a good chance to pick some bargins up when the liquidation sales happen

[willilamwgn (William)]

They do have some good star chart and atlas.

[rogerco (Roger)]

I thought they went under a while back, the Penrith store closed over a year ago.

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Yes, there used to be several around here, but theonly one I know still operating is Westfield Kotara (Newcastle).

Agreed they were expensive, but I always enjoyed browsing.
I didn't realise they were part of Myer, (explains high price).
It would be tempting to snare a bargain.
But as my partner reminds me, 50% off something you don't need, is still 50% you didn't need to spend.

[Shano592 (Shane)]

But Allan, 50% off!!

The problem is, Jo is used to working in an environment where lowest prices are just the beginning. She's now immune to it.

[el_draco (Rom)]

A lot fewer frustrated newbies; probably a good thing in that respect. I went in once acting dumber than usual and asked some basic questions. The drivel the salesperson tried to feed me about what their basic scopes could do was gob smacking, and I was sore temped to do it for real.

[kittenshark (Cheryl-Ann Tan)]

The last time I went there, I was rather disappointed to see that they were selling "Name a Star" gift certificates, although to be fair, they did put a disclaimer on it. But that's about it--it is a novelty/gift/toy shop.

I love browsing there (and besides laughing at their scopes range) and I'd imagine lots of kids would. If I had such a store when I was a kid I'd be in heaven--so much for the "nerdy" ones to indulge themselves with. I bet there will be some great educational toys that would be great stocking stuffers, compared to what you'd find in general toy stores.

Just don't ask about scopes. It'll steam your clams! Lost count of how many times newbies have returned the scopes and went to their local astronomy shop instead after weeks of frustration, and peeps from the local astronomy clubs love going there to wind up the salespeople by asking about scopes. (Naughty, naughty!)