Goodmans (electronics company)
 | |
| Owner | B&M Group |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Introduced | c. 1925 |
| Previous owners | Alba / Harvard International (until 2022) |
| Website | www |
Goodmans is a British consumer electronics brand, currently under the ownership of the B&M Group. It originated as a company named Goodmans Industries in Wembley and later based in Hampshire, best known for loudspeakers. A wide range of products have been marketed under the name, traditionally focused in audio, stand-alone speakers and radios, but now expanded to various other electronics.
Company and brand history
[edit]
Goodmans Industries was founded in 1923,[1] 1925,[2] or 1926,[3] in Wembley, Middlesex.[2] The company started as a manufacturer of loudspeakers for public address systems. The company was sold in 1959 to Relay Exchanges Ltd. and through a series of sales and mergers ended up under ownership of Radio Rentaset Ltd. and then Radio Rentals.[3]
As of the post-war period through to the 1960s, Goodmans Industries was based in Lancelot Road, Wembley,[3] where production and engineering took place. Following a merger resulting in a Goodmans Loudspeakers Ltd., and the acquisition of Radio Rentals by Thorn Electrical Industries (later Thorn EMI),[4] the company moved away to Downley Road, Havant, Hampshire, in 1970.[3][4]
In 1984 there was a management buyout at Goodmans Loudspeakers.[4] Its turnover had risen from £7 million to £20 million within three years' time.[5] That same year, in 1987, the company purchased fellow loudspeaker maker Mordaunt-Short, then in September of that year announced a merger with Tannoy, resulting in the largest audio equipment company of Britain. Goodmans Loudspeakers became a subsidiary of the newly created Tannoy Goodmans Industries (TGI). Along with these three brands, the TGI group also owned the Epos and Creek Audio brands.[6] The company later moved to Ridgeway in Havant.[7] TGI floated on the stock exchange, becoming the first company to do so following the Black Monday crash.[8]
Goodmans was the shirt sponsor of the English football team Portsmouth F.C. from 1989[9] to 1995.
Goodmans effectively split in 1991, with OEM loudspeaker builder Goodmans Loudspeakers Limited (GLL) set up as a separate company.[10] On the other hand, the part of Goodmans marketing foreign-made products like in-car entertainment and television sets[4] was purchased by Alba in May 1994[3] for a "maximum of £3.6 million"[11] and became a subsidiary, Goodmans Industries Limited.[12] The Alba Group also owned and marketed Alba, Bush and Hinari branded electronics.[11] The Alba Group became Harvard International in 2008[13] when their Alba and Bush brands were purchased by the Home Retail Group.[14]
The Goodmans brand was sold by Harvard International to the B&M Group in 2022, which had been a long time licensee selling Goodmans products in its B&M retail stores.[15]
Product range
[edit]
In the 1960s, Goodmans Industries extended their products to amplifiers with the introduction of the Maxamp30, the first British made solid state amplifier. Also at the time, Goodmans marketed a loudspeaker named Maxim, which was described as "unusually small" in a BBC research department's document.[16]
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Goodmans continued to develop loudspeakers, amplifiers, tuners and receivers. At one point it was a major supplier for loudspeakers to the hi-fi market and to the motor car industry.[17] For instance, it made the first speakers supplied for the Ford Granada, Sierra and Fiesta car models.[4]
Goodmans launched their first DAB digital radio products in October 2002,[18] including the GPS280 portable stereo CD player.[19] By the new century, Goodmans products had shifted in large part away from audio to set-top boxes during the rise of digital TV.[20] They launched their first HD ready TV on 27 July 2007.
To breathe new life into the brand, Goodmans began to return to its audio roots in 2013.[20] It collaborated with a design consultancy, Rodd Design, and led to the release of the 50s-style Goodmans Heritage radio and various other products.[21][22] The next year Goodmans rebranded with a fresh new logo featuring a squirrel.[23] It also launched the Canvas, Go and Pebble portable radios,[23] then in 2015 the Aspect soundbar[21] and the 60s-style Oxford digital radio which is a recreation of a Bush TR130.[24]
References
[edit]- ^ "Goodmans Industries". www.gracesguide.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
- ^ a b "Goodmans Brand Book_PC". SlideShare. 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- ^ a b c d e https://www.bvws.org.uk/publications/bulletins/pdf/BVWS_Bulletin_30_4.pdf
- ^ a b c d e "History". 2002-01-08. Archived from the original on 8 January 2002. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
- ^ "Goodmans merger clinched". Portsmouth Evening News. 7 September 1987.
- ^ Andrew Murphy (2021-03-26). "How Rogers Hi-Fi is bringing back some iconic BBC speakers". whathifi. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- ^ https://www.townenders.com/images/programmes/1989-1990/PDF/1990-02-24%20Portsmouth%20Vs%20Swindon%20Town.pdf
- ^ https://martin-audio.com/downloads/edge/MartinAudio_TheEdge_40yrs.pdf
- ^ Newcastle Journal. 3 June 1989.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Defunct Audio Manufacturers - Gl to G9 - audiotools.com". audiotools.com. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
- ^ a b "Alba buys Goodmans Industries for maximum of £3.6 million". Western Daily Press. 18 May 1994.
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20040619165926/http://www.albaplc.com/PDF/Corp%20Pres%20new.pdf
- ^ "Goodmans". Harvard International. 2013. Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ "Terms of Use". Archived from the original on 25 October 2017.
- ^ "Harvard International Limtied". harvardltd.com. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- ^ https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/1965-09.pdf
- ^ Sunday Express. 25 October 1987.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Frontier Silicon Leads DAB Market as Goodmans Launch World's First DAB Digital Radio Range". 2002-11-04. Archived from the original on 4 November 2002. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
- ^ "ukdigitalradio: Goodmans new DAB digital radio range". 2007-10-20. Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- ^ a b "New lease of life for British audio brand - The Business Exchange - Swindon and Wiltshire". tbeswindonandwilts.co.uk. 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- ^ a b DEVELOP3D (2015-06-17). "New spark". DEVELOP3D. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Station to station: Ten DAB-Bluetooth combo radios".
- ^ a b "Goodmans uses product design to reposition". Design Week. 2015-01-13. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- ^ Minn, Hayley (2015-03-26). "12 of the best-looking DAB radios in the UK #StyleWeek". ShinyShiny. Retrieved 2025-01-28.