Comet flyers?

[stevehertz]

A thought occurred to me. I love reading old equipment ads, particularly old hifi ones. Comet often used to take out a whole wadge of pages to advertise their hifi deals in hifi mags. But did they ever give out 'flyers' along the same lines? I seem to recall that they did but I can't be sure. I'd love to get hold of some for pure nostalgia's sake!

[Ted Kendall]

Don't remember Comet doing this but I'm pretty sure Lasky's did - oh, yesterday, leave me alone!

[TonyDuell]

I vaguely remember a sort of magazine put out by Comet that contained equipment reviews and answers to questions (heavily biased I might add). The issue I remember (might have been the only one I ever had, and if I still have it I have no idea where it is) had a review of a Leak tuner/amplifier, I think the 1800.

[Boater Sam]

Was it Comet that had a pricing policy in its stock list sheet of listing items out of stock at a price ending in 94p?

[AC/HL]

A friend of ours worked at Comet in the early days, they sold more than mass produced goods back then. I bought a Decca H4E head and arm there amongst other things!

[Junk Box Nick]

My Connoisseur SAU2 pick-up arm was bought from Comet.

I don't remember any promotional literature a la Lasky's or Tandy.

[stevehertz]

No I don't remember any myself 'as an actual fact', I was just curious and hopeful. Seems like they just used to take out those four or so double page spreads in hifi mags then.

[Reelman]

Yes, Comet did produce a newspaper sized sheet with all their prices for a time at least. I’ve just bought one (yesterday) from eBay dated August 1972! Great minds must think alike....
They also produced a “run out” list of odds and ends that you could ask to see for extra bargains.
Peter

[G6Tanuki]

I remember the Comet ad-sheets: usually 4 sides of models/prices, in weekend national newspapers.

Apocryphally, people would go to a high-street shop to look at TVs/radios/white-goods there, choose the model they wanted - then go to Comet to buy it. This annoyed the high-street stores to the point where to pacify them the major manufacturers started producing the same-model-under-different-model-numbers with one model-number going to high-street outlets the other to Comet, so when someone decided - following a visit to their high-street store - that they wanted an ElectroSerHotLux 1100DX-1 washing-machine, they couldn't find that model in the Comet price-list. Comet salespeople would of course advise that their 1100RX-2 was actually the same model.

This also allowed high-street dealers/shops to identify Comet-supplied gear and implement differential-pricing for subsequent repairs to stuff bought from Comet rather than themselves - a sort of "I didn't buy it from you but..." surcharge.

[radioman]

I was a regular visitor to our local Comet store and often picked up the current price list. This had twelve pages or so and came out every two weeks.
I still have a few of these (circa 1981-'83) although they're a bit 'dog-eared' and yellowed.
Some pics below to whet your appetite

Andy

[Reelman]

Nice to see them again Andy, just shows what a huge range of kit Comet used to stock (or at least try to....).
Also the increase in size from the four pages of 1972.
Bought all my hi-if from Comet in the 70s so happy memories of Yardley and Selly Oak branches.
Peter

[wd40addict]

In the early eighties Comet was the go-to outlet when the Japanese importers wanted to clear stocks of last year's models. Slowly this role was taken over by Richer sounds as Comet appeared to lose interest in the Hi-Fi separates market.

[KeithsTV]

Originally Posted by Reelman

Bought all my hi-if from Comet in the 70s so happy memories of Yardley and Selly Oak branches.
Peter

I remember the Selly Oak branch as I bought many items from there including two TVs, a car radio which had to go to their service department for repair under warranty, a camera and many accessories and the final item was a CD player. Still have the CD player and one of the TVs.

I remember the flyers but they were usually thrown away when the next one came out. I was once told that the pence part of the price indicated the status of the item but can't remember how it worked.

Keith

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by wd40addict

In the early eighties Comet was the go-to outlet when the Japanese importers wanted to clear stocks of last year's models. Slowly this role was taken over by Richer sounds as Comet appeared to lose interest in the Hi-Fi separates market.

I think the main reason was that the hifi separates market was dwindling rapidly for a number of reasons. Firstly with the advent of cheaper production techniques such as greater use of plastics and LEDs, then certainly at the bottom end of the market buyers were happy to buy 'all in one' units that looked like a stacked system but were not, and where cheesy 'Christmas tree ' looks were more important than sound quality. I also personally feel that it was around this time that the proverbial hifi snob changed up to fifth gear and began to turn his back on 'mass produced ' hifi in favour of the smaller, 'techy', home based manufacturers whose approach heralded in the zanier, smoke and mirrors approach to marketing that we still see today, the "silver cables sound better" situation . Plus of course, to an extent the market had become flooded, most viewing their hifi purchase as a (perhaps not quite) once in a lifetime thing. The bottom line being, mainstream buyers became less discerning, more cost conscious and more attracted to flashing lights than sound quality. The nett result being that hifi became more of a commodity product than one to be chosen with forethought and passion. Which is somewhat ironic given that Comet were in effect the box shifters of the hifi world. At any rate, people no longer wanted to pick and mix their hifi components when they could get a vertical music centre for a fraction of the price.

[mike_newcomb]

Hi Steve,
you are correct in that when Comet first opened Warehouse style outlets, unlike others, they gave out a price list showing just make, model and price. This covered everything, not just hifi, and not all items would be on display, but could be ordered.

I think the lists were updated weekly or fortnightly, and generally were one or two sheets.

This method was a breath of fresh air compared to existing sale methods of just seeing what is displayed in small outlets such as Currys then. I have pleasant memories of visiting the Comet store in Wembley which opened in the 60's. Sadly now closed.

One such list is currently being offered here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-O...1Nue:rk:4:pf:0

Regards - Mike

[stevehertz]

Thanks Mike. I want something like that - with pictures!

[mike_newcomb]

Hi, by sheer coincidence, today in Prato (near Florence) I had to visit:

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...ce=sh%2Fx%2Fim

with a Friend in order to purchase a special Floodlight Bulb.

Regards - Mike

[Richard_FM]

Originally Posted by wd40addict

In the early eighties Comet was the go-to outlet when the Japanese importers wanted to clear stocks of last year's models. Slowly this role was taken over by Richer sounds as Comet appeared to lose interest in the Hi-Fi separates market.

Interestingly in Stockport Richer Sounds is more or less opposite the building Comet used to be in, before they moved to the Peel Centre.

I don't think there were both open at that location at the same time though.

[Nickthedentist]

Originally Posted by KeithsTV

I remember the Selly Oak branch as I bought many items from there including two TVs, a car radio which had to go to their service department for repair under warranty, a camera and many accessories and the final item was a CD player. Still have the CD player and one of the TVs.

I remember the flyers but they were usually thrown away when the next one came out. I was once told that the pence part of the price indicated the status of the item but can't remember how it worked.

Keith

Where was the Selly Oak branch? Heeley Road rings a bell.

I lived there as a student from 93-98 and by then ISTR it was on the Battery Retail Park.

N.

[KeithsTV]

Heeley Road rings a bell but I think the last time I visited was in 1984 when I bought my CD player. The car park was often a nightmare trying to find somewhere to park. There was the main warehouse and the service department on the same site.

Keith