Comments on: JB Hi-Fi Begins Selling TiVo In Australia

By: Gryphon

Gryphon — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:42:46 +0000

Technically, Sears still is “Sears, Roebuck & Co.”, but they don’t use the company’s full name in their branding any more.

I didn’t think of Macy’s or L&T, mainly because I tend to associate them more with clothes and cosmetics than electronics, toys, or tools (the three things I’m most likely to go into a department store after).

Unrelatedly, this comment’s recaptcha is great: “probed menace”.

By: MegaZone

MegaZone — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:39:46 +0000

Sears used to be Sears-Roebuck, and there was Montgomery Ward, which became Wards, but now seems to be the former again – online.

I think others like Lord & Taylor, Macy’s, etc, are named after people. But the names aren’t as blatantly like the name of some bloke.

By: Gryphon

Gryphon — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:18:24 +0000

Here in the States, we used to have more retail chains named after people, but most were regional deals and have either gone under, been bought up by faceless conglomerates with chain names that are carefully demographic-neutral, or changed their names to a similar sort of neutrality. Off the top of my head, the only two high-profile retail establishments I can think of that still trade under their founders’ names are J.C. Penney and Sears (well, and Kmart and Wal-Mart, if you stretch, the founders having been chaps called Kresge and Walton respectively). All the other big players tend to have generic names like Target and Home Depot.

Part of it, I suspect, is that the focus-group mania of the ’90s tended to homogenize trademarks. You can always find one person in a focus group with some kind of grudge against something the name of the company’s founder seems to represent, and so the company winds up with a name like “Best Buy”. From this far away, Australia seems to be somewhat less prone to that kind of foolishness, or maybe that’s just wishful thinking. Somewhere in the world ought to be.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:14:23 +0000

Harvey Norman was set up by Gerry Harvey and Ian Norman, though you never hear about the former.

Erm, sorry, you never hear about the latter. Gerry Harvey is pretty high-profile.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:12:51 +0000

The names often reflect the company history. Dick Smith Electronics was founded by a guy named Dick Smith (incidentally, he’s a multimillionaire “adventurer” type, a bit like Steve Fosset but not missing, and has his own line of cheapo food product knockoffs now). Harvey Norman was set up by Gerry Harvey and Ian Norman, though you never hear about the former.

Never heard of Clive Anthony’s, but Wikipedia tells me they’re from Queensland and owned by JB Hifi, so that explains that. Wouldn’t be surprised if that was the founders name, too.

Other examples of similar naming include Myer (founded by Sidney Myer) and Bing Lee (founded by, you guessed it, Bing Lee). A lot of retail companies here started out as family businesses and have kept their names — why change when you have an established brand?