// Workers AI · dad joke modeAre Goodmans good at sound? Yes, they're a good speaker.
 | |
| 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
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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. As of the post-war period through to the 1960s, it was based in Lancelot Road, Wembley,[3] where production and engineering took place.
The company was sold in 1959 to Joseph Robinson's Relay Exchanges, which later became known as Rentaset.[4] In 1964, Rentaset merged with Radio Rentals and became known as Radio Rentaset.[3][5]
In 1967, Goodmans was merged with the acoustic division of Plessey Components Group, based in Havant, Hampshire, and became a subsidiary of a new company, Goodmans Loudspeakers Ltd.[3] In 1968, the company was acquired by Thorn Electrical Industries (later Thorn EMI) as part of their merger with Radio Rentals.[6]
Goodmans moved to Downley Road, Havant in 1970.[3][6]
In 1984 there was a management buyout at Goodmans Loudspeakers.[6] Its turnover had risen from £7 million to £20 million within three years' time.[7] 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.[8] The company later moved to Ridgeway in Havant.[9] TGI floated on the stock exchange, becoming the first company to do so following the Black Monday crash.[10]
Goodmans was the shirt sponsor of the English football team Portsmouth F.C. from 1989[11] to 1995.
Goodmans effectively split in 1991, with OEM loudspeaker builder Goodmans Loudspeakers Limited (GLL) set up as a separate company.[12] On the other hand, the part of Goodmans marketing foreign-made products like in-car entertainment and television sets[6] was purchased by Alba in May 1994[3] for a "maximum of £3.6 million"[13] and became a subsidiary, Goodmans Industries Limited.[14] The Alba Group also owned and marketed Alba, Bush and Hinari branded electronics.[13] The Alba Group became Harvard International in 2008[15] when their Alba and Bush brands were purchased by the Home Retail Group.[16]
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.[17]
Product range
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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.[18]
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.[19] For instance, it made the first speakers supplied for the Ford Granada, Sierra and Fiesta car models.[6]
Goodmans launched their first DAB digital radio products in October 2002,[20] including the GPS280 portable stereo CD player.[21] By the new century, Goodmans products had shifted in large part away from audio to set-top boxes during the rise of digital TV.[22] 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.[22] It collaborated with a design consultancy, Rodd Design, and led to the release of the 50s-style Goodmans Heritage radio and various other products.[23][24] The next year Goodmans rebranded with a fresh new logo featuring a squirrel.[25] It also launched the Canvas, Go and Pebble portable radios,[25] then in 2015 the Aspect soundbar[23] and the 60s-style Oxford digital radio which is a recreation of a Bush TR130.[26]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Goodmans Industries". www.gracesguide.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
- 1 2 "Goodmans Brand Book_PC". SlideShare. 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Goodmans Industries Ltd" (PDF). The Bulletin. Vol. 29, no. 4. British Vintage Wireless Society. Winter 2025. p. 64.
- ↑ "Radio Rentals chief joins Thorn". The Times. 26 August 1968. p. 17.
- ↑ "Radio Rentals and Rentaset in £55m merger plan". The Times. 7 July 1964. p. 16.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "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.
- ↑ "Portsmouth - official match-day magazine" (PDF). www.townenders.com.
- ↑ "Martin Audio's First 40 Years" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-03-25.
- ↑ "Newcastle Journal". 3 June 1989.
- ↑ "Defunct Audio Manufacturers - Gl to G9 - audiotools.com". audiotools.com. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
- 1 2 "Alba buys Goodmans Industries for maximum of £3.6 million". Western Daily Press. 18 May 1994.
- ↑ "Group Overview 2003" (PDF). ww.albaplc.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-06-19.
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ "The Goodmans 'Maxim' loudspeaker" (PDF). bbc.co.uk.
- ↑ "Sunday Express". 25 October 1987.
- ↑ "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.
- 1 2 "New lease of life for British audio brand - The Business Exchange - Swindon and Wiltshire". tbeswindonandwilts.co.uk. 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- 1 2 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".
- 1 2 "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.