Monthly subscription service Nerd Block is out of business

Subscription service Nerd Block is out of business. Though industry experts saw it coming, that doesn’t make it any easier for the fans who enjoyed it.

Nerd Block has filed for bankruptcy and insiders are speculating what might have happened to the Canadian company that had such a strong start in the monthly subscription service and was among the first to branch out to individual fandoms. But this news isn’t easy to hear for those fans who really enjoyed their products.

I love subscription boxes and Nerd Block was the first monthly subscription service I had. It was a bit on the pricey side at roughly $30, but I what really drew me in was the concept. Getting a box full of random pop culture stuff in the mail each month is a lot of fun. I stopped my subscription for a while but eventually returned, only the next time around I opted for the science-fiction box. The Sci-Fi Box eventually became the Sci-Fan Box, and everything was going great until June 2017. That’s when my box was delayed due to a problem with one of the items at the warehouse. That’s what they said, anyway. So in July I ended up with two boxes, not realizing that they would be my last. By August, the company would be gone.

These days there’s a monthly subscription box for everything from makeup to razors, contact lenses to cat toys. There are even boxes for underwear and gourmet meals. But Nerd Block was one of the first, and it’s sad to see in some reports just how bad things were for the company before they ultimately declared bankruptcy.

It’s not difficult to understand the challenge many of these subscription services have. Unless subscribers prepay for a block of months, it would be a huge challenge to figure out how much to order. Services like Loot Crate have their own exclusive merchandise, but they have figured out the market buy selling individual items from their “vault,” which allows for overstock to still be sold at a profit. Loot Crate does, however, offer incentives for fans who want to buy blocks of three, six, and twelve months. This makes ordering merchandise a lot easier.

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I will miss Nerd Block because it was different than Loot Crate. Whereas the early subscription boxes were like a special insiders-only club, these days everyone seems to have at least one, and oftentimes the boxes can be purchased at comic conventions as well.

For now, though let us bid adieu to Nerd Block and give thanks for all of the fun stuff we received in our boxes over the years.