In 1937 radios were expensive but unreliable and frequently broke down. Radio repair shops needed spare parts, often quickly, to satisfy demand.

In London two men, P M Sebestyen and J H Waring, identified this need and set up a business providing radio repair shops with the spare parts they needed, quicker than they could get elsewhere.

In the early months, the business operated out of a lock-up garage in Lanark Villas but by September 14th of that year Radiospares Ltd had been formally established and began operating out of a small unit on Birchington Road in London.

By persuading parts manufacturers to make components for them, which they then sold under the Radiospares brand name, Sebestyen and Waring not only founded a new company but brought a new concept to pre-war Britain.

In a split with the tradition of buying parts from a manufacturers dealer, Radiospares also offered an incredible service that was uncharacteristic of the time; 'A Replacement for Every Job! And A 24 Hours' Service on top of it!' promised the price list.

The company worked hard to stick to its promises; all orders received were delivered by the visiting salesman or posted out that night. You only paid postage if your consignment was less than £2:0s:0d.

The terms of business were cash with order or cash on delivery; strictly trade only ('approved' radio repair establishments) and no discounts.

The concept proved popular and by the outbreak of war, Radiospares had six full-time representatives covering London and the Home Counties. Throughout the Second World War, Radiospares helped to keep the nation's radios working providing spare parts where they were needed most.

After the war, television started to become ever more popular, and as the demand for spare parts increased so the range of products increased. By 1947 Radiospares had moved to bigger premises in Fitzroy Street.

This was quickly followed, by the first export link to a newly founded company in Dublin called Radionics.

In the early 1950s the advent of Sony's revolutionary all-transistor radio threatened the survival of Radiospares. Its solid-state components meant it didn't break down and it heralded a new era in electronic reliability and circuitry customisation. Suddenly supplying spare parts for radios and televisions looked less and less viable and Radiospares was faced with an uncertain future unless a new market could be found.

Radiospares' reputation for honest, reliable and speedy service had spread beyond the boundaries of the radio and television repair shops. Industrial manufacturers had made increasing requests for products. Where previously Radiospares had turned these requests down, now was the time to take the initiative and so by 1955 Radiospares was offering its services to general industry.

The commitment to deliver the same standard of service and stock availability meant larger premises were necessary and the business moved to Maple Street W1. By 1965 over 50% of business was coming from Industrial customers.

By the early sixties access to the Radiospares' service became easier, new motorways improved nationwide distribution and expanding airlines helped with requests that came in from abroad. Electronic engineers who trained in Britain were taking the Radiospares Catalogue overseas whilst they worked on projects.

Success brought about the creation of Electrocomponents and in 1967, a public listing on the stock market. Which in turn bred more success, and finding Maple Street a tight fi t, RS moved to Epworth Street, EC2 which offered 70,000 sq ft.

In the early 1970s industrial disruption on a scale unseen since 1926 threatened the survival of Radiospares. Postal strikes posed a threat to the business' reputation and the management began to look at ways of safeguarding and improving its distribution network. In 1974 the Birmingham Distribution Centre opened, followed a year later with one in Manchester.

As the product portfolio had grown, so had the types of customers using the service offer. Where Radiospares had described perfectly what the business did and what it offered, by the 1970's the name needed modernising to refl ect the new business and in 1971 the company was renamed as RS Components.

Throughout the rest of the 70's the newly renamed RS Components continued to grow and by 1981 had offices around the country. There was a growing need to increase the stock holding space in the sites from which RS operated.

Corby had much to offer a company like RS; good road links to the main motorways and centrally located for access to the whole country. Around the town there were undeveloped sites where even the largest warehouses could be raised on un-mined ironstone, without the need for extensive and expensive piling to be undertaken.

On top of all this, there was a local council anxious to attract new business to the area. In 1984 RS moved from London to new premises in Corby with over 300,000 sq ft of warehouse space, purpose built offi ces and a trade counter. Moving from London was a major decision for the business and over 100 staff also relocated their homes and families to the Northamptonshire area. To continue to support London customers two more trade counters were opened in Bow and Hounslow.

Such was the phenomenal growth of RS that within five years of the new site opening, predictions showed that even this would be inadequate to meet future requirements. The board approved plans for an additional 250,000 sq ft of warehousing space in Corby, which opened in 1991.

By 1995 a second distribution centre in Nuneaton had been opened to increase the stock holding capacity of the business by providing ½ million sq ft of space. The local face of RS had also became a key component in the strategy of the business and by 1996 RS had a further 9 Trade Counters throughout the UK in major conurbations like Bristol, Newcastle, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Crawley, Watford. Nottingham and Southampton.

In recent times the Trade Counter expansion has been complimented with a Call & Collect network which will ultimately provide same day access to the entire range of products across the UK - an unrivalled service not available from any other Business-to-Business operation in the UK.

After establishing its first export link with the Irish firm Radionics in 1947, RS international sales, through distributors grew from strength to strength. But it wasn't until 1990 that RS opened its own offices abroad in France.

Such was the success of the French operation that throughout the 1990's RS set up operating companies across Europe, including Germany, Italy, Denmark and Spain. In 1995 RS began to move into the Far East, opening offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. The Global footprint of RS was completed in 1999 with the aquisition of Allied in the USA.

RS now has 26 operating companies and for countries without a local presence the UK export department is on hand to ensure engineers around the world have access to the RS range.

RS has demonstrated throughout its history that it is capable of adapting to new challenges and embracing technology. In 1995, RS was the first business to produce a CD catalogue; this first was followed in 1998 with rswww.com. As a Business-to-Business transactional website, rswww.com not only allows customers to order every single product but also provides access to product datasheets and useful technical references.

The RS website is often cited by eBusiness and eCommerce experts as a leading example of excellence in Business-to-Business online operations. The website has won numerous awards since 1998 and is constantly monitored and maintained to ensure customers online experiences match those offline.

On the face of it, the modern RS Catalogue bears no resemblance to the double sided Radiospares sales leaflet of 1937. Certainly the website provides a means of servicing customers that our original founders would never have dreamed of.

But beyond an unrivalled product range where all items are available from stock with free next day delivery as standard, or enormous warehouses and extensive local trade counter network, the reputation and values offered in 1937 are still at the core of who we are today and we continually strive to deliver excellence every time a customer touches RS.