Another of the world’s leading US-based technology companies has quit the Bullring shopping centre.
And, for a firm built on the possibilities of audio, the silence accompanying the disappearance of Bose has been deafening.
You could say it has silent echoes of its pioneering noise-cancelling headphones - unless you listen to the audio's farewell message on our video above.
Bose had a state-of-the-art shop close to the Bull statue and the foot of the Rotunda selling everything from earphones to computer speakers, home cinema kits and its own Wave sound systems.
For years, much of its British sales were secured by mail-order, satisfaction guaranteed money back ads in newspapers.
So when Bose first arrived as a company-run store in the Bullring about six years ago, it was a surprise for local specialist stockists in less glamorous locations.
Now the company whose Massachusetts motto is ‘Better sound through research’ has closed its doors... with a silent hush.
The store’s location was just across the same upper shopping mall from another world-leading tech company.
Apple closed its original Bullring store in September 2016 to move into a much bigger former banking hall on New Street, previously used by Waterstones
And Maplin is currently hosting a closing down sale on Temple Street with fears rising that it is too late to save the company.
The closure of Bose means the company will no longer be directly represented in Britain’s second city, though retailers still stocking some Bose products include John Lewis in Grand Central, Selfridges in the Bullring and BB Store on Avery Road, Sutton Coldfield.
When the Birmingham Mail asked its third-party PR company for a comment, we were told: “We’ve caught up with our client on your enquiry, and Bose have no comment to make on this.”
On March 21, we asked the Bullring’s third-party PR company for an explanation only to be told today: “Unfortunately we are still waiting to hear back.
“We’ll update you as soon as we hear.”
The official address for Bose was SU708, Bullring Shopping Centre, Birmingham B5 4BU.
Customers are advised to call 0333 3000 112 for more information.
What is Bose?
Based in Framingham, Massachusetts, the company was founded in 1964 – coincidentally the year the original Bull Ring shopping centre opened 54 years ago, long before the current Bullring opened in September, 2003.
Like Apple, it had its own way of doing things.
The still private-owned company was named after Amar Bose (1929-2013), then a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He had spent his teenage years repairing radios on some days when he should have been at school.
Much of the company's success was built on psychoacoustics – the study of how sound is perceived.
Dr Bose recognised that existing speakers didn’t take into account the spaces in which they would be heard, such as living rooms and apartments.
Now employing more than 8,000 people and with a turnover close to $4 billion, the company’s website says the story of Bose was ‘an idea that became an obsession. And that became who we are’.
It adds: “The primary vision of our founders wasn’t about making quick money.
“It was about inventing new technologies that would truly benefit people, and creating a culture where innovation and teamwork are valued above all else.
“Playing for the long run. Achieve this, and good things usually follow.
“Better sound is just the beginning. We’re passionate engineers, developers, researchers, retailers, marketers … and dreamers.
“One goal unites us – to create products and experiences our customers simply can’t get anywhere else. If you want to hear more, we invite you to explore.”
In 2011 as he approached the end of his life, Dr Bose gifted the majority of non-voting shares of Bose Corporation to MIT.
Although renowned for its audio engineering skills, the Bose Corporation’s first products were actually high-power amplifiers for converting battery power to AC power.
They were used in the US military aircraft and submarines.
In November, 2017, ClearMotion acquired the Bose Ride system and other predictive road-sensing software after the Bose Corporation had spent more than 30 years researching how to make seat systems in vehicles more comfortable.
One area of current research Bose has retained is in Hearphones, a product designed to help people to better understand conversations in noisy environments.
