Rumbelows was an electrical and electronics retailer in the United Kingdom that once rivalled Currys, Dixons and Comet.
In 1969, Thorn extended the Rumbelows name across other regional chains it had bought, including Fred Dawes, NEMS and Strothers.
In 1989 the business was sold to Radio Rentals, which had merged with Thorn Electrical Industries the previous year.
With its core business removed, Rumbelows sought a new identity as a more conventional non-rental retailer, adding home computers to the product mix.
[9] In the 1980s, Martin Dawes (born c. 1945) carried on the family name in the electrical and electronic retailing sector, with his mobile phone business, which he then sold to Cellnet in March 1999 for £130 million.