Big Announcement for Target and FABRIQ, Alexa’s Sassy Sibling

By now you have probably heard of FABRIQ, the stylish and versatile Amazon Alexa equipped portable speaker. If you haven’t heard about this little beauty yet you’d better familiarize yourself with it quickly, it’s about to start showing up everywhere you go.

That’s right, up until now the FABRIQ speakers were only available via online retailers like Amazon or through direct purchase from the company website, but that’s all about to change. Beginning May 21, 2017, the FABRIQ speakers will be available for the first time ever in Target’s brick-and-mortar stores. Not only is Target going to be the first retail store to offer these adorable wireless speakers but FABRIQ has released six new colorful styles to celebrate this milestone, four of which will be exclusive to Target.

Of course, if online shopping is still your thing they’ll be available on Target.com as well! The four exclusive styles are shown in the image above and are, left to right, Aloha, Blue Steel, Confetti, and Stars.

Steel yourself parents, once your little ones see these cute little speakers on the shelves at Target you’re going to have to do everything you can to keep one from showing up in your basket.

You think that’s me just parroting marketing-speak? Think again. FABRIQ sent me a pair of their first edition speakers back at the beginning of the year and, as much as I love them, my kids are bananas about them. Our house is fully Alexa-fied, we have an Amazon Echo in the bedroom that is fully integrated with our smart-home infrastructure (and serves as a fantastic white-noise generator – my jam is Ocean Waves by Joe Baker) and we have a few Amazon Dot’s strategically placed throughout the rest of the house. It’s not a stretch to say that Alexa is on the top-10 list of best friends for my kids. If the stately and elegant Amazon Echo is like a wise aunt to the kids, helping them get through tricky math problems and putting cookies on mom and dad’s shopping list, the little FABRIQ speakers are the Beyoncé playing, joke cracking aunt who had a few too many glasses of wine.

But they’re not just for kids.

When I travel I have grown accustomed to hunting down the Tartan Red “Jack Plaid” version (I have to pretend like I’m an adult when I’m on business trips and our other FABRIQ speaker is “Splat”). It’s the perfect size to stuff into a suitcase and I’m just too used to having Alexa by my side not to have her on my nightstand when I’m traveling. In addition to having Alexa available at the touch of a button, I love that I can use the FABRIQ as a Bluetooth speaker and when I have my Wi-Fi hotspot running and have both the FABRIQ and my iPhone on the network, I can enjoy the increased fidelity of AirPlay.

The kids love that they can join multiple FABRIQ speakers into a single Bluetooth or AirPlay speaker with very little effort using the slick iOS app. We have our set up as a stereo pair but mono is a great option if you want to do multi-room audio.

There just isn’t another speaker that I’ve found that packs this many features into this small of a package at only $49. Plus, and I’m not ashamed to admit this, when I’m feeling a little down, there’s the rock-n-roll light show option to get my spirits up. I always say, “If you’re going to put LEDs into something you might as well add a music-responsive rock-n-roll light show.” Trust me, I always say that.

If you’re like me, you’re going to love the FABRIQ speaker. Battery life is fantastic and with six new color choices, you’re sure to find something that fits your (or your kid’s) personality. If you’re on the fence, take a trip down to Target and give them a look. Be careful, though, and don’t say I didn’t warn you about them showing up in your basket if you’ve got little hands and feet cruising the aisles with you!

Note: Review units were provided by FABRIQ