Tandy Corporation was an American family-owned leather-goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Tandy Leather was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store. By the end of the 1950s, under the tutelage of then-CEO Charles Tandy, the company expanded into the hobby market, making leather moccasins and coin purses, making huge sales among Scouts, leading to a fast growth in sales.
Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebranded under its current name with an emphasis on consumer electronics in 1983.
Dixons Retail plc was one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in Europe, which merged with Carphone Warehouse in 2014 to create Dixons Carphone. In the United Kingdom, the company operated Currys, Currys Digital, PC World, Dixons Travel and its service brand Knowhow.
The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc, which was formed by the merger of its former parent Carphone Warehouse Group with Dixons Retail. Prior to this merger, Carphone Warehouse Group was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Following the closure of all stand-alone UK stores in April 2020, all remaining Carphone Warehouse UK outlets were within branches of Currys PC World. In April 2021, the Carphone Warehouse business in Ireland was closed with immediate effect. Currys continued to use the Carphone Warehouse brand in the United Kingdom, online and, until 2021, inside Currys stores.
Geek Squad, Inc. is a subsidiary of American and Canadian multinational consumer electronics corporation Best Buy, headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. The subsidiary was originally an independent company founded by "Chief Inspector" Robert Stephens on June 16, 1994, and offers various computer-related services and accessories for residential and commercial clients. In 2002, they merged with Best Buy, retaining Stephens as the primary corporate leadership for the subsidiary. The Geek Squad provides services in-store, on-site, and over the Internet via remote access, and also provides 24-hour telephone and emergency on-site support. Geek Squad no longer works solely on computer-related devices. It now diagnoses issues in and repairs all consumer electronics, as well as appliances.
Dixons was a British high-street retailer of consumer electronics, originally founded in 1937 as a photographic studio by Charles Kalms. The company would later deal in many consumer electronics, with nationwide outlets in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
PC World was a British retail chain of mass market computer megastores. Established in November 1991, it became part of Dixons Retail in February 1993, and then part of Dixons Carphone, after the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse in August 2014. All of its physical shops in the United Kingdom traded under the combined "Currys PC World" brand, although this was retired in October 2021, after which point the company became known simply as “Currys”.
Currys is a British electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones.
Elkjøp, better known as Elgiganten outside Norway, is the largest consumer electronics retailer in the Nordic Countries with four hundred stores in six countries and 10,000 employees. Elkjøp was founded by Trygve Fjetland on 16 March 1962. It was purchased in November 1999 by Currys plc. Elkjøp owned stores for a time in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The Link was an internet based mobile phone and communications retailer in the United Kingdom. It was owned by Dixons Retail, the United Kingdom's largest consumer electronics retail group, and traded online through a dedicated retail website, which in addition to mobile phones also offered satellite navigation systems and broadband Internet services.
Tchibo is a German chain of coffee retailers and cafés known for its range of non-coffee products that change weekly. The latter includes: clothing, furniture, household items, electronics and electrical appliances. In Germany, Tchibo's slogan is "Every week a new world". Tchibo has further expanded its product range to sell services such as travel, insurance, and mobile-phone contracts.
The Miranda Camera Company (ミランダカメラ㈱), originally named the Orion Camera K.K. (オリオンカメラ㈱) in 1955 and Orion Seiki Sangyō Y.K. (オリオン精機産業有限会社) in 1947, manufactured cameras in Japan between 1955 and 1976. Their first camera was the Miranda T. Many of their products were single-lens reflex cameras for 135 film (35 mm). Unlike many Japanese made cameras, Miranda did not make their own lenses and had to rely on other manufacturers to supply them.
Harold Stanley Kalms, Baron Kalms is the life president and former chairman of Currys plc. Currys plc owns Currys, as well as the now phased-out brands "PC World", "Team Knowhow" and various international electronics retailers. Dixons Retail merged with Carphone Warehouse in October 2014 to become Dixons Carphone. He spent his entire career from 1948 working for Dixons, which was founded by his father Charles Kalms in 1937.
Currys Digital was an electrical retailer in the United Kingdom owned by Dixons Carphone, with its origins in a photographic shop opened by Charles Kalms.
PC City was a chain of computer superstores owned and run by Dixons Carphone. Established in 1991, it was a continental European equivalent to the PC World brand, which operates in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Pixmania, once known as Fotovista, was a French-based e-commerce website, founded in 2000. It promoted a variety of products, including consumer electronics and baby products, with turnover of over €300million in 2013. It operated a website and until 2013 ran brick-and-mortar retail stores in Europe. It was active in 14 European countries.
Dixons is a Dutch chain of stores specialising in what it refers to as leisure time electronics. This means that Dixons does not sell products like washing machines or televisions but does provide things like digital cameras, PC's, MP3 players, gaming consoles and mobile phones.
Currys plc, formerly Dixons Carphone plc, is a British multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company headquartered in London, England. It was formed on 7 August 2014 by the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse Group. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Tesco has expanded its operations from the United Kingdom to 11 other countries. Tesco pulled out of the United States in 2013, but continues to see growth elsewhere. Tesco's international expansion strategy has responded to the need to be sensitive to local expectations in other countries by entering into joint ventures with local partners, such as Samsung Group in South Korea, and Charoen Pokphand in Thailand, appointing a very high proportion of local personnel to management positions. It also makes small acquisitions as part of its strategy: for example, in its 2005/2006 financial year it made acquisitions in South Korea, one in Poland and one in Japan.
