Where are they now... companies that bit the bullet

[Anonymous]

Finding an old magazine indoors there were some companies\brands in there that no longer exist, which reminded me of old companies of yesteryear. So any help is appriciated if anybody could bell me what happened to the following companies:

Hogg Robison (Travel Agents)
Access (Credit Cards)
The Leeds (Building Society)
Rumbelows (Rental Shops)
Netscape (Internet Provider)
Beezer (UK Comic)
Topper (UK Comic)
Thorn Security
Polygram Music
Mean Machines Sega (Magazine)
Our Price (Music Shop)
Gulf + Western (Company that used to own Paramount)
Pye Television Sets
Ferguson Television Sets
Saisho Hi-Fi's (etc)
Death Cigarretts (If anyone can remeber those)
Maginifico (Larger version of Cornetto)
Saxone (shoe shop which i was only reminded of because the plack had been left on a building in Oxford Street)
Granada Televisons & Videos ( I know someone who had both of these up until last year)
Granada Bingo Halls (There was one in Ilford)
Granada Rental Shops
Basf (Video & Audio tape manufacturer)
Agfa (video & audio tape manufacturer)
Soul II Soul clothes shop (there was two in central London, seriously)
Lookin (Old magazine I remember from 1989)
Scotch (video & audio tape manufacturer)

That's all I can think of at the moment

[Chris]

Rumbelows (Rental Shops)

IIRC they went bankrupt/into liqudation some time ago, around 93/94 ish as I remember their shop closing down where I live.

Ferguson Television Sets

They still exist don't they? I swear I saw some in a branch of Curry's a few weeks back.

Our Price (Music Shop)

They rebranded to Sanity (why??) and the last time I walked past a Sanity shop it has closed down for good. This one was in Staines.

Granada Rental Shops

There used to be one where I live but it has long since disappeared and been replaced by a local clothes shop. Didn't they rebrand to Box Clever or something like that?

Whatever happened to Amstrad hi-fi's?

Whatever happened to Radio Rentals Express?

Whatever happened to Fads, the shop selling decorating stuff?

[Pete]

Netscape (Internet Provider)

Do you mean the actual Netscape ISP or Netscape as in Browsers aswell? If the latter AOL shut them down once they'd got loads of money off MS but it seems they are going to make another new edition of Netscape soon.

Basf (Video & Audio tape manufacturer)

Now called "Emtec" which I think is the name of the company in Europe.

[russnet]

Commodore - Sold 10 years ago around this time of year.

[Anonymous]

Rumbelows (Rental Shops)

IIRC they went bankrupt/into liqudation some time ago, around 93/94 ish as I remember their shop closing down where I live.

Ferguson Television Sets

They still exist don't they? I swear I saw some in a branch of Curry's a few weeks back.

Our Price (Music Shop)

They rebranded to Sanity (why??) and the last time I walked past a Sanity shop it has closed down for good. This one was in Staines.

Granada Rental Shops

There used to be one where I live but it has long since disappeared and been replaced by a local clothes shop. Didn't they rebrand to Box Clever or something like that?

Whatever happened to Amstrad hi-fi's?

Whatever happened to Radio Rentals Express?

Whatever happened to Fads, the shop selling decorating stuff?

Oh so Fads shut down everywhere, I though they had only shut down in Ilford because that is a present trend at the monent.

Also what happened to:

Olympus Sport
Cash Converters (these now come up as various names now)

[MarkN]

Access (Credit Cards)

Now part of MasterCard (like Switch will become MasterCard's Maestro brand)

Beezer (UK Comic)

Merged with the Beano in 1993

Topper (UK Comic)

Merged with the Beezer in 1990

Polygram Music

Now part of Universal Music

Gulf + Western (Company that used to own Paramount)

Renamed Paramount Communications in 1989, then taken over by Viacom.

Pye Television Sets

Bought by Philips in 1976. (The old Pye factory in Lowestoft is owned by Sanyo)

Saisho Hi-Fi's (etc)

An own-brand of Dixons Group??? Matsui seems to be the brand used more often now.

Granada Bingo Halls (There was one in Ilford)

Now Gala Bingo

Granada Rental Shops

Became "boxclever" along with Radio Rentals.

Basf (Video & Audio tape manufacturer)

Video and audio tapes are now branded EMTEC - BASF still exists though (a chemical company)

Agfa (video & audio tape manufacturer)

Still trading.

Scotch (video & audio tape manufacturer)

A brand of 3M - still produces head and disc cleaners

[cwathen]

Rumbelows (Rental Shops)

Closed down by Thorn-EMI in 1995.

Ferguson Television Sets

Still going.

Granada Televisons & Videos ( I know someone who had both of these up until last year)

Granada-branded equipment (like Rediffusion branded equipment) was just rebadged stock from other manufacturers (Amstrad supplied quite a lot of it). It was done as a bit of subtle advertising so that visitors to people's houses could see that their telly was rented from Granada, and if it was a good one they might rent from Granada too. When the prices of tellys and videos plummeted in the early-mid 90's causing a huge downturn in the rental market, Granada stopped this practice and thus 'Granada' TV's disappeared.

Granada Rental Shops

Granda Rentals, along with Radio Rentals, merged to form Box Clever in around 2001 (although even today they still haven't changed all the signs over). Although has Box Clever itself now gone bust too? I ask because a lot of them seem to have suddenly closed down a couple of months ago?

Lookin (Old magazine I remember from 1989)

Wasn't this produced by TV Times as a way of promoting ITV and C4 to a younger audience? I presume it died off when TV Times went independent and became just another listings magazine.

[russnet]

With regards to Look-In. How I remember getting the free Knight Rider and Street Hawk stickers in one 80's edition!

Anyhow, I've seen a 1991 Look In annual on Ebay and rumours have it that the magazine lasted as long as 94/95 before it folded.

[Martin]

Whatever happened to Fads, the shop selling decorating stuff?

Oh so Fads shut down everywhere, I though they had only shut down in Ilford because that is a present trend at the monent.

Fads is still clinging on in a high street near me. In attempt to get in more stock they have the isles spaced out by about 50cm with room for about one very thin person to walk down. I dont imagine it will remain long, very poor choice - often only one large tin of paint per colour.

I believe the Fads brand is part of Homestyle, who have a more substantial store in the city centre.

[DJGM]

Look-In (aka the Junior TVTimes) started in January 1971, and ceased publication sometime in 1992 . . .

[Chris]

Granada Rental Shops

Granda Rentals, along with Radio Rentals, merged to form Box Clever in around 2001 (although even today they still haven't changed all the signs over). Although has Box Clever itself now gone bust too? I ask because a lot of them seem to have suddenly closed down a couple of months ago?

I've noticed that too. The branch in Staines has closed down recently.

Also what's happening with Dixon's stores? I heard rumours recently that they were going to close down all of their in-town stores and focus more on their larger out of town branches on retail parks etc. The Dixon's branch in the Staines shopping centre has closed down recently as well. Is this a growing trend?