Name Brands that disappeared

[RPM 26325]

Once an American powerhouse, sold to Phillips in 1974, then resold to Funai but repo'd after they breached contract. Defense group was sold to Hughes Electronics then to Raytheon. They spun off the sonobuoy operation to form Under Sea Systems Inc (USSI). In 1998, Raytheon sold USSI to a British defense consortium named Ultra Electronics. 

[EuroHorn 3265]

 

[elfenix 34326]

really unfortunate timing on the naming of that product

[Guest]

Enron

Theranos

Greggo

[Chooky 13317]

13 minutes ago, elfenix said:

really unfortunate timing on the naming of that product

Dahmer's Canned Ham. 

[YGIFS 19452]

27 minutes ago, EuroHorn said:

 

I remember finding a bag of those at a family gathering and thinking they were real candy as a young kid.  They tasted like plastic and feet.  And yes, AIDS will suppress your diet.  

Can we count Pan Am Airlines as a "brand"?  Wasn't it the largest airline on the planet at its peak in terms of both passenger count and market cap?  

I realize stores aren't the same thing as brands per say, but didn't realize until yesterday that there are less than 20 K-Marts and 20 Sears left in the United States and it'll be half that in a year's time.  I mean Sears was fucking huge, bigger than Amazon is today in terms of market share.  

For tangible consumer brands, I'd have to go with Oldsmobile.  It was an after-thought brand under the GM banner when most of us were coming up, but it was a massive line both independently owned and under the GM flag for a full century before the full wind-down began.  35 million cars and SUVs sold all-time.  At one point by the  1980's, 1 in 3 American households had owned an Oldsmobile at some point in their past/present.  Other than maybe pickup trucks in some geographic markets in the U.S., that'll never be matched again.  

 

[Gatorubet 30247]

Nebraska Football 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

Sears was first knocked to the ground by Wal-Mart, and then was knocked out of the ring by Amazon.

It's always hindsight but too many big brands refuse to adapt because they see the adaption as hurting their traditional brand. Then you're Sears with only a handful (15?) full-sized stores left.

[Armybrat 40851]

Pontiac. 
DeSoto. 
Packard. 

 

[Parliament 14262]

Service Merchandise

 

[Neonmoon 38129]

Blackberry 

[miguelito 11266]

shaggybevo

[HouTex 1885]

Oldsmobile

Schlitz (though maybe available in some places)

Aunt Jemima

[Deej 76842]

Burma-Shave

[MAUFRAIS 6629]

[safe sex 11735]

Every videochain

[Brisketexan 105161]

Dr. Porkenhiemer's Boner Juice.

 

Actually, the "disappearing brands" is interesting.  A good friend of ours has acquired several well-known but defunct or almost defunct brands.  Reviving/combining them with other product lines is the plan.  So, don't rule out seeing things like "Magnavox" make another run at relevance.

[High Plains Drifter 11050]

4 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Pontiac. 
DeSoto. 
Packard. 

 

 

Mercury (maybe?, I dunno)

 

 

[Scheiss Meister 8408]

My first taste of beer was a sip of my granddad's Jax that I snuck while bringing it to him from the fridge while he and my dad watched football on TV.

[Parliament 14262]

12 minutes ago, MAUFRAIS said:

[ztejas 43489]

6 minutes ago, Scheiss Meister said:

My first taste of beer was a sip of my granddad's Jax that I snuck while bringing it to him from the fridge while he and my dad watched football on TV.

The rest was history. 

[HouTex 1885]

8 minutes ago, Scheiss Meister said:

My first taste of beer was a sip of my granddad's Jax that I snuck while bringing it to him from the fridge while he and my dad watched football on TV.

My story, and brand, as well.  Jax was very popular in SE Texas in the 60's and very early 70's.  Loved beer from that first sip . . .

[elguapo 4586]

LA Lights

 

[Scheiss Meister 8408]

1 minute ago, HouTex said:

My story, and brand, as well.  Jax was very popular in SE Texas in the 60's and very early 70's.  Loved beer from that first sip . . .

Do you remember the "Jax! Fahbacher!" commercials, or did I just imagine those?

[JMFP 1120]

32 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Sears was first knocked to the ground by Wal-Mart, and then was knocked out of the ring by Amazon.

It's always hindsight but too many big brands refuse to adapt because they see the adaption as hurting their traditional brand. Then you're Sears with only a handful (15?) full-sized stores left.

What's funny about this is Sears was the Amazon of the late 19th/early 20th century. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears

Quote

 

Before the Sears catalog, farmers near small rural towns usually purchased supplies, often at high prices and on credit, from local general stores with narrow selections of goods. Prices were negotiated and relied on the storekeeper's estimate of a customer's creditworthiness. Sears built an opposite business model by offering in their catalogs a larger selection of products at published prices.

By 1894, the Sears catalog had grown to 322 pages, including many new items, such as sewing machines, bicycles, sporting goods and automobiles (later produced, from 1905 to 1915, by Lincoln Motor Car Works of Chicago [no relation to the current Ford line]).^[14] By 1895, the company was producing a 532-page catalog. Sales were over $400,000 ($12 million in 2021 dollars) in 1893 and over $750,000 ($20 million in 2021 dollars) two years later.^[15] By 1896, dolls, stoves, and groceries were added to the catalog.

 

 

Rosenwald brought to the mail-order firm a rational management philosophy and diversified product lines: dry goods, consumer durables, drugs, hardware, furniture, and nearly anything else a farm household could desire.

Sales continued to proliferate, and the prosperity of the company and their vision for more significant expansion led Sears and Rosenwald to take the company public in 1906, with a stock placement of $40 million ($1.2 billion today).

 

 

[HouTex 1885]

2 minutes ago, Scheiss Meister said:

Do you remember the "Jax! Fahbacher!" commercials, or did I just imagine those?

Yes, I do remember those.  Actually, it was my father's beer, not my grandfather's and I did not have to sneak the first sip.  I was raised in that eastern European beer culture that begins in west Fort Bend County and runs west out old US 90.  All the kids drank beer at an early age.

[bolverk 29694]

[RDCanecutter 26454]

Baltimore Colts.

[CooterBrown 18015]

A couple of Texas brands:

Curtis Mathes TVs

Kaepa shoes

[atomheartbevo 89735]

46 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Service Merchandise

Green Stamps @slorch 

10 minutes ago, bolverk said:

They Gip You

[0xdeadbeef 1651]

Once upon a time, Computer Shopper was the king.

If you're too young or you weren't a Nerd, you may not have even known this existed.   

Behold, shopping for computers and tech gear before the age of amazon.com:

For better or worse this went the way of 56K Modems. 

[Storm the Field 5295]

Was gonna say KMart, but apparently there are still 3 open and operating. 

Circuit City

Palais Royal

Foley's

Steak & Ale

In addition to the others previously named, pretty much all of the spin-off brands of major automakers:

Saturn

Geo

Datsun

Mercury

Plymouth

[Storm the Field 5295]

3 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Green Stamps @slorch 

They Gip You

It's actually spelled "gyp" and is a mild slur, as in "I got gypsy-ed."

 

[Scheiss Meister 8408]

Gibson's Discount Center.  Wiki says that there are two left using that name, both in Texas, but they are not part of the original company.  I used to walk halfway across Brenham to get my model planes and tanks at Gibson's.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

FTX

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

Blue jeans edition:

Z cavarricis 

Garbaeux

I didn’t spell either of those right. 90s kids know what’s up.

[Deej 76842]

Those of you from Central Texas will remember Winn's.

[Carl Spackler 3486]

Quasar televisions

Falstaff beer

Pier 1

[SHOOTER12 8811]

1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

Pontiac. 
DeSoto. 
Packard. 

 

The 1st car I remember my parents having was a white and pink 57 Desoto,  same year I was born.  What an awesome battleship of a car it was.

Edit, and viva la Schlitz, best beer for homemade BBQ sauce ever.

Edited November 30, 2022 by SHOOTER12

[Not that Bob 739]

Braniff

Henry J

Studebaker

[bolverk 29694]

7 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Blue jeans edition:

Z cavarricis 

Garbaeux

I didn’t spell either of those right. 90s kids know what’s up.

Girbaud jeans (80s kids do too since we had them before you)

 

It might be too regional, but Dunlaps was a big name in West Texas when I was a kid.

[Scheiss Meister 8408]

Perry's Five and Dime also supplied my model building addiction in the 70s.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

3 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Girbaud jeans (80s kids do too since we had them before you)

 

It might be too regional, but Dunlaps was a big name in West Texas when I was a kid.

Born 1980…I was trying to remember if they were a thing in the 80s or 90s…

 

[utee94 15835]

20 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Blue jeans edition:

Z cavarricis 

Garbaeux

I didn’t spell either of those right. 90s kids know what’s up.

 

 

[Steamboat1874 4069]

Stuckey's

[bolverk 29694]

[Scheiss Meister 8408]

1 minute ago, Steamboat1874 said:

Stuckey's

There aren't nearly as many as there used to be, but there are still a few around.  I know of one in Italy, just off I35, and another on I10 between Houston and Beaumont.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

1 minute ago, bolverk said:

Orange Julius!

[Rimbo 25985]

48 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

Baltimore Colts.

 

Well, if you're going to do that, how about Houston Oilers. 

🤬

 

40 minutes ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

Once upon a time, Computer Shopper was the king.

If you're too young or you weren't a Nerd, you may not have even known this existed.   

Behold, shopping for computers and tech gear before the age of amazon.com:

For better or worse this went the way of 56K Modems. 

I loved the ads in A+ (in the 1980s) and PC Magazine and PC Computing, but Computer Shopper was where you went to find all the components. It was the Fry's of the 1990s.

 

Come to think of it, how about that Frys Electronics.

[HiggyBaby 2540]

And echo Oldsmobile, since my Dad was an Olds man.