Yes, spot on with this Lee.....

My own introduction to B & O came in about 1986/7, when i got friendly with a lad at school who happened to be son of the owner of a small chain of shops known as 'Wildbores - Sound and Vision'. At this point I had never even heard the name 'Bang & Olufsen'.

They stocked Panasonic, Sony, Phillips, maybe one or two others.........and, Bang & Olufsen!!!!

I was fascinated by this 'space-age' super stylish brand & headed straight for the 'B & O - By appointment to the Royal Danish Court' section everytime in both Wildbores'  Oldham and Rochdale shops....usually picking up a free B & O product brochure to drool over at home later!

I decided right then (as a 13/14 year old) that i was gonna save up all my available money, birthdays & xmas money etc. After almost two years of saving I had amassed about £1,200, and the Beocentre 9000 & Redline 60.2's were almost within grasp.

Taking full advantage of my friendship with Mr Wildbore's son, I managed to secure a £250 discount from Mr. Wildbore & I had finally achieved my goal of purchasing the 9000 & 60.2's --- MAGICAL!!!!

The more recent business model of dedicated B&O franchise stores I believe puts the more general shopper off, and half the people out there have never even heard of Bang & Olufsen at all, so are therefore highly unlikely to even step into a slightly obscure shop with a 'strange sounding' name when looking to buy a new tv or music player. I totally agree that when you put a B & O product side by side another brand in a showroom, the difference is there for the general public to see why B&O prices are as high as they are...!

Regards,

But there are of course limited exceptions to the rule, the one in this country being

Lee & Michael, your first "love" with B&O is exactly the same as mine. In a multi branded store, where "drooling" was allowed. 😁

I would probably never have entered a B&O store... Why?

There wouldn't have been one in my home town of 15.000 inhabitants. 

While I did visit Helsinki fairly often shopping with my parents, I doubt I would have ventured into a B&O store. 

Another thing...

I was 10-11 yo when I fell in love with B&O, didn't get one until I was 15. I remember all my friends knowing what B&O was, and what it was known for -Being the best! Now we are back in 1995 or so.

Ask a 15 year old today to explain what Bang&Olufsen is, and he/she will most likely not know what you are talking about. 

The "China Syndrome" is indeed an interesting one...

B&O overwhelmingly biggest market is Europe. What do they do? Concentrate and to some extent please the Chinese market to the fullest! I mean who in Europe would buy gold colored B&O?! 

China may have 1,5 billion citizens, but it is till a very undeveloped and underpaid country (outside the metropoles) 

Europe has over 700 million citizens... All highly developed. While it may only be half of Chinas, I don't think we can neglect the huge possibilities B&O can have in Europe, where it is a known brand.