Automatic Centre is a appliance and

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

retail store The retail format (also known as the retail formula) influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services ar ...

chain in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. Started in 1948 by Benito Lim, the store chain has grown to maintaining multiple outlets in

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila ( ), commonly shortened to Metro Manila and formally the National Capital Region (NCR; ), is the capital region and largest List of metropolitan areas in the Philippines, metropolitan area of the Philippines. Located ...

History

Automatic Centre was established by Benito Lim in 1948. It was a

family business A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by Consanguinity , blood, marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business a ...

by the Lims, with sons Wilson and Samie founding Abensons and Blims Fine Furniture. Automatic Centre was managed under Automatic Appliances Inc. (AAI). The chain shutdown all of its stores on October 10, 2021 due to losses caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The Lim family has sought third parties interested to take over the Automatic Centre brand which had about 20 stores in Metro Manila at the time of its closure. However by October 2022, Automatic Centre has reopened 19 of its stores with an updated brand logo.

References

{{reflist Consumer electronics retailers Retail companies established in 1948 Philippine companies established in 1948 Privately held companies of the Philippines