NEW YORK – Axxessce, founded by a former Sakar International employee, is gearing up to revive the Coby name in audio, accessories and other CE products, except for TVs and tablets.
The company, led by CEO Steven Shamula, plans to ship a variety of value-priced audio and other products by the end of the year to mass-market retailers, CE specialty stores, food and drug chains, and premium markets.
Axxessce will exhibit at next year’s International CES at booth 14917 in the Central Hall.
The company is owned by an investor group that licensed the Coby brand for all products but tablets and TVs from Gordon Brothers, which “is in the process of signing licenses for TVs and tablets,” Shamula said.
Liquidator Gordon Brothers last August purchased all inventory, fixtures, equipment, intellectual property, global trademarks and patents of the former Coby Electronics to revive the business after the Lake Success, N.Y., company closed its doors.
“We’ll do everything [Coby Electronics] did, except for tablets and TVs,” said Shamula, formerly with Sakar International in a sales position for eight years. He has a total of 25 years’ experience in wholesaling to retailers.
The product line will be broad and will include earbuds from $2.99 to $49.99, headphones from $4.99 to $79.99, tabletop and portable powered speakers from $9.99 to $99.99, noise-canceling headphones from $19.99 to $89.99, all types of CD boomboxes from $19.99 to $79.99, clock radios from $4.99 to $49.99, soundbars from $29.99 to $129.99, antennas up to $29.99, remote controls from $2.99 to $49.99, PC speakers from $3.99 to $79.99, CD players from $9.99 to $49.99, and FM radios from $4.99 to $29.99.
Down the road, the company will offer HTiBs and wearables, Shamula said.
The predecessor company also sold netbooks, HTiBs, MP3 and MP4 players, digital photo frames, and digital camcorders to such major retailers in the U.S. and around the world as Best Buy, K Mart, Wal-Mart and Amazon.com.
Axxessce will start soliciting retail customers in a couple of weeks, and the first wave of products will be in production in China in early August, with products arriving in the U.S. in mid- to late October. The company will also open an office in China in the next couple of weeks.
Axxessce will offer signage, POP, and displays to retailers.
In purchasing Coby Electronics assets last year after the company went out of business, Gordon Brothers said it purchased only certain assets controlled by Coby’s secured lender and did not assume any of the company’s outstanding liabilities or obligations, including returns inventory.
At the time, Gordon Brothers also said it would “infuse capital into the company in support of the development of new products and go-to-market strategies for Coby that will enable an expedited return of the company’s various product lines to the marketplace.”
Gordon Brothers cited its success at the time in turning around Polaroid, The Sharper Image and The Bombay Company. The company describes itself as an advisory, restructuring and investment firm specializing in the retail, consumer products, industrial and real estate sectors.
The original Coby Electronics was founded in 1991 and had about $400 million in annual sales at the time of its demise.
