Just over two years ago, Best Buy opened up Escape -- a boutique consumer electronics store in Chicago which aimed at providing tech geeks with the latest in gaming, gadgets and electronics. The store was targeted at 20 to 30 year olds with money to burn and a knack for a more "personal" touch to consumer electronics shopping.

On January 26, 2007, Best Buy announced that it was closing down its Escape brick and mortar (B&M) store. Best Buy has, however, decided to provide a limited assortment of the gear available at the Escape B&M store to its new home online: bestbuy.com/escape.

The Escape online portal now features two very limited product categories: "Mobile Computing" and "Gadgets & Accessories." While limited in scope right now, hopefully the online store will be expanded to include a host of high-end gadgetry that isn’t normally available to North American customers.

Some of the mobile gear on hand includes the Asus R2H UMPC ($999.99), Raon LX800 UMPC ($879.99) and Flybook V33i ($2,999). The Gadgets and Accessories section is even more limited with online four items available for sale, one of which is a $180 Violet WiFi Bunny.

All of the products are imported and supported by Dynamism, a Japanese retailer known for exporting high-end gadgets, translating Japanese-language electronics to English and sometimes ridiculous product markups. It appears that the tendency to markup devices still lives on considering that the Asus R2H UMPC is $999.99 at the Escape online store can be had for $895.99 at ZipZoomFly.