 | |
| 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 and former company, currently under the ownership of the B&M Group. A wide range of products have been marketed under the name, traditionally focused in audio, stand-alone speakers and radios.
Goodmans Industries was founded in either 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, Thorn-EMI plc, and TGI Group. [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., the company moved away to Downley Road, Havant, Hampshire, in 1970. [3]
Goodmans had merged with Tannoy to create TGI plc (Group of Companies) in 1986. Goodmans Loudspeakers Ltd was based at Ridgeway in Havant. [4] The TGI group also owned the Tannoy, Mordaunt-Short, Epos and Creek Audio brands. [5] The Goodmans company had effectively split. Goodmans Industries, which by then was marketing foreign-made products like in-car entertainment and television sets, was purchased by the Alba Group in 1994. [3] In 2008 the Alba Group was renamed to Harvard International [6] when their Alba and Bush brands when purchased by the Home Retail Group. Legally, Harvard International went by as Alba Broadcasting Corporation Ltd. [7]
Goodmans was the shirt sponsor of the English football team Portsmouth F.C. from 1989 [8] to 1995.
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. [9]
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. [10]
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. [11]
Goodmans launched their first DAB digital radio products at the end of 2002, including the GPS280 portable stereo CD player. [12] By the new century, Goodmans products had shifted in large part away from audio to set-top boxes during the rise of digital TV. [13] 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. [13] It collaborated with a design consultancy, Rodd Design, and led to the release of the 50s-style Goodmans Heritage radio and various other products. [14] [15] The next year Goodmans rebranded with a fresh new logo featuring a squirrel. [16] It also launched the Canvas, Go and Pebble portable radios, [16] then in 2015 the Aspect soundbar [14] and the 60s-style Oxford digital radio. [17]
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