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[Varche]

I can understand the Toys r us going under but Maplin?

Who is next? 

[scimmy_man]

most people dont know what to do with half of Maplins stock,

and its usually 1/3rd the price online so...........

[LC0112G]

I can understand the Toys r us going under but Maplin?

Who is next?

When Maplin started, they had a single store in Rayleigh, Essex and sold electronic components to home enthusiasts. When I first became aware of them in the early 80's they had 4 or 5 stores including one in Hammersmith. I was at uni in Londinium and used to cycle there regularly to get bits. The other big players were Watford Electronics, plus a load of indy stores in Edgeware road.

Since then they've been bought out and expanded to 200 stores - we even have one here in Yeovil.  They have branched out from specialist electronics components into general consumer electronics which has put them up against the giants on the interweb. RS and Farnell both allow the general punter to buy electronic components direct now (you don't need a trade account) and both offer next day delivery too. If Maplin have got the bits I want then I'll often buy from the shop. If not, then eBay/RS/Farnell are usually quicker.

I can't say I'm surprised at their failure - they're basically going the same way that Tandy went and Tandy went pop too.

[Bigron]

Yes, I remember Maplin's early days, when Roger Allen started the business - cheap, good quality and a genuine interest in electronics, including producing project magazines.
Then Akai bought Roger out, and immediately upped the prices....and so it went on, so it serves them right.

Ron.


P.S. Rapid Electronics at Colchester are usually quite good on price - apart from their delivery charges.

[Lizzie Zoom]

Yep, I have been using the Maplin superstore just outside Canterbury recently to sort out a problem with a CCTV camera that has stopped working.  Before that I have been into the store quite a few times to just look around, then eventually buying my first item from them, the CCTV system.

During all visits, at various times of the week, including Saturday's, there was only one other customer in the huge store.  I know that is not viable as you must have a greater footfall than that, let alone customers making purchases, just to cover the basic selling expenses, let alone fixed costs, of running a store of that size.  Varche correctly states why their trade is under severe competition, so I cannot see any future for Maplins operating out of retail premises.  This is the fate for many retailers in the 21st century, and may even threaten the very existence of large out-of-town shopping centres across the land. 

[zirk]

Hmm, so why am I going to buy my BC 108's from now then.

[Bigron]

Try Ebay - they can't do fake BC108s, can they?

Ron.

[LC0112G]

Hmm, so why am I going to buy my BC 108's from now then.

Providing you don't need more than 9000 of them...
 
http://uk.farnell.com/search?st=bc108

Flash git using silicon transistors anyway. AC176's are the future once you've given up on EL84's :-)

[Kevin Wood]

Yes, I remember Maplin's early days, when Roger Allen started the business - cheap, good quality and a genuine interest in electronics, including producing project magazines.
Then Akai bought Roger out, and immediately upped the prices....and so it went on, so it serves them right.

Ron.

Yep, ironically, it was mail order (and you could even order "online" with a MODEM using their text based BBS, IIRC) that was their great strength when the likes of Farnell and RS wouldn't deal with individuals.

Their catalogue was also like a bible before online access to component data sheets, etc. because all the application information was there along with example circuits and so on. Those were the days!

I do wonder why they invested in so much retail space where if they'd kept the online side competitive for electronics "makers" without the overheads and needing to sell tacky toys and PC components with a huge markup, they might have been OK.

P.S. Rapid Electronics at Colchester are usually quite good on price - apart from their delivery charges.

Yep, I try to support them a bit too. They are a breath of fresh air after searching for the 22uF, 16V capacitor that you need on Farnell and having to weed down the list of 16,384 possibilities to pick the one you actually want to buy - only to find there's a £15 "us surcharge" on the price.

[Kevin Wood]

Hmm, so why am I going to buy my BC 108's from now then.

Providing you don't need more than 9000 of them...
 
http://uk.farnell.com/search?st=bc108

Flash git using silicon transistors anyway. AC176's are the future once you've given up on EL84's :-)

Are you perhaps forgetting the legendary OC45?

Now just try scraping the paint off a BC108 to turn it into a photodiode!

[redelitev6]

I can understand the Toys r us going under but Maplin?

Who is next?

Get used to this happening more often , internet shopping is great , convenient , hassle free and usually cheaper , BUT without the need to get off your a**e and actually go into a shop why do you need the shop ? Local councils don't exactly welcome cars into a town centre , high rents, business rates , minimum wage, they'll all add up to the death of traditional shopping , chickens coming home to roost ? 

[zirk]

I can understand the Toys r us going under but Maplin?

Who is next?

Get used to this happening more often , internet shopping is great , convenient , hassle free and usually cheaper , BUT without the need to get off your a**e and actually go into a shop why do you need the shop ? Local councils don't exactly welcome cars into a town centre , high rents, business rates , minimum wage, they'll all add up to the death of traditional shopping , chickens coming home to roost ?

Because this is Our British High Street Economy were talking about, its being ruined by Overseas Online Giants that are laughing all the way to there Off Shore Bank.

[redelitev6]

I can understand the Toys r us going under but Maplin?

Who is next?

Get used to this happening more often , internet shopping is great , convenient , hassle free and usually cheaper , BUT without the need to get off your a**e and actually go into a shop why do you need the shop ? Local councils don't exactly welcome cars into a town centre , high rents, business rates , minimum wage, they'll all add up to the death of traditional shopping , chickens coming home to roost ?

Because this is Our British High Street Economy were talking about, its being ruined by Overseas Online Giants that are laughing all the way to there Off Shore Bank.

Exactly the point I was trying to make , for far too long the high street has been seen as an income stream that councils think they can plunder indefinitely , always assuming that people will go shopping whatever the inconvenience , as i type this I've no doubt my Mrs is on her laptop browsing some shopping site while watching the blizzard currently blowing past our living room window , that is why traditional shopping is doomed , we need a massive attitude change from councils and shoppers to stop the death of shopping as we know it 

[Bigron]

Yes, I remember Maplin's early days, when Roger Allen started the business - cheap, good quality and a genuine interest in electronics, including producing project magazines.
Then Akai bought Roger out, and immediately upped the prices....and so it went on, so it serves them right.

Ron.

Yep, ironically, it was mail order (and you could even order "online" with a MODEM using their text based BBS, IIRC) that was their great strength when the likes of Farnell and RS wouldn't deal with individuals.

Their catalogue was also like a bible before online access to component data sheets, etc. because all the application information was there along with example circuits and so on. Those were the days!

I do wonder why they invested in so much retail space where if they'd kept the online side competitive for electronics "makers" without the overheads and needing to sell tacky toys and PC components with a huge markup, they might have been OK.

P.S. Rapid Electronics at Colchester are usually quite good on price - apart from their delivery charges.

Yep, I try to support them a bit too. They are a breath of fresh air after searching for the 22uF, 16V capacitor that you need on Farnell and having to weed down the list of 16,384 possibilities to pick the one you actually want to buy - only to find there's a £15 "us surcharge" on the price.

Likewise with the one produced by Ambit Electronics, of Brentwood - remember them? SO full of information and great kits to make, and hard-to-find components.
Happy days, indeed.....

Ron.

[BazaJT]

If I owed the tax man £15 they'd be down on me like a ton of bricks,yet apparently Toys "R" Us owes £15m in unpaid VAT and the parent American company are unwilling to do anything about it

[aaronjb]

Yes, I remember Maplin's early days, when Roger Allen started the business - cheap, good quality and a genuine interest in electronics, including producing project magazines.
Then Akai bought Roger out, and immediately upped the prices....and so it went on, so it serves them right.

Ron.

Yep, ironically, it was mail order (and you could even order "online" with a MODEM using their text based BBS, IIRC) that was their great strength when the likes of Farnell and RS wouldn't deal with individuals.

I remember that well, and it seemed so futuristic at the time! At a whopping 1200/75baud..

I miss their big catalogues with the newspaper print, and their magazines filled with kits to build and the time to do them!

[ronnyd]

We all know what global multinationals are like, pay as little tax as possible and take as long as possible to do it.

[TheBoy]

Maplins were screwed from the moment their suppliers were unable to get insurance for SoR stock last year. And as they lacked the cashflow to actually buy stock....


...but as others have said, they pulled out of mail order component supply in favour of retail stores, they predictably slowly morphed into Tandy, and went the same way.


Which is a same, as they were much respected in the 80s, supplying compnents to enthusiastic schoolkids at an affordable price, and publishing their own projects magazine to teach those enthusiasts different techniques.

[Kevin Wood]

Yes, I remember Maplin's early days, when Roger Allen started the business - cheap, good quality and a genuine interest in electronics, including producing project magazines.
Then Akai bought Roger out, and immediately upped the prices....and so it went on, so it serves them right.

Ron.

Yep, ironically, it was mail order (and you could even order "online" with a MODEM using their text based BBS, IIRC) that was their great strength when the likes of Farnell and RS wouldn't deal with individuals.

I remember that well, and it seemed so futuristic at the time! At a whopping 1200/75baud..

I miss their big catalogues with the newspaper print, and their magazines filled with kits to build and the time to do them!

It might have been slow, but it was a darn sight faster than filling all the codes in on the order form then posting it, or ordering over the phone using speech. In fact, you could put all the required responses in a text file then leave your BBC micro to send it. *


*- while watching for any bursts of line noise that tended to make a Horlicks of it, natch.

[Lizzie Zoom]

Maplins were screwed from the moment their suppliers were unable to get insurance for SoR stock last year. And as they lacked the cashflow to actually buy stock....

That is the crucial factor as in everyone of their stores they are crammed with "dead" stock that was not selling through fast enough at high enough margins. That is the killer in any major retail business and that is why, with rising costs, let alone threatening interest rate rises,so many are now under threat.

[Bigron]

The biggest problem I have found with today's Maplins stores is the staff; they have little or no product knowledge and unless you are looking at anything with a price tag on it worth their while in commission, they ignore you.

Ron.

[TheBoy]

Obviously, these companies have been hit hard by the fact we've been in recession for the past 12-15 months, even if not technical recession.

[Rods2]

Used to use RS with work and a range of small independent retailer in the UK for making stuff at home. It was also the time when I started buying from the US by mail order as the prices were cheaper. I used to enjoy trips into London and Edgeware Road with a components shopping list.

[TheBoy]

Used to use RS with work and a range of small independent retailer in the UK for making stuff at home. It was also the time when I started buying from the US by mail order as the prices were cheaper. I used to enjoy trips into London and Edgeware Road with a components shopping list.

Yup, when I was in Aylesbury, a trip to Edgware Road to buy components was a real treat

[Bigron]

Anybody remember the government surplus shops in Lisle Street? My best purchase was a pair of NightSight binoculars, operated by a Zamboni Pile - high voltage, low current battery!

Ron.

[Doctor Gollum]

The biggest problem I have found with today's Maplins stores is the staff; they have little or no product knowledge and unless you are looking at anything with a price tag on it worth their while in commission, they ignore you.

Ron.

I found the exact opposite.

Having purchased a universal PSU, to replace the dog chewed one for my Panasonic Toughbook, from PC World only to discover it didn't work.

The best that PC World in Southampton could do was to grudgingly try a different one off the shelf which also didn't work, leading them to conclude that I needed a new laptop

After ten minutes in Maplins, the salesman considered the requirements of the laptop and shortlisted two possibilities. After settling on one, this was plugged in and after a couple of minutes, the laptop powered up.

OK, it cost more than the PCWorld one, but to my mind, the time that the staff spent on this issue was worth the difference. 

[Gaffers]

I have to agree.  I have had lots of help from their staff where I have either learnt something from them or confirmed my own calculations.  Where I think they fall down is their woeful website.  Finding anything specific is tedious and the GUI is poor at best.  This is where they had an advantage over Farnell and the like due to the minimum order charges but if you can't nail our online presence in this modern world you are doomed to failure.

[TheBoy]

The branch of Maplin in MK used to have a really, stereotypical Milton Keynes dumbass woman. Came across as thick as two short planks.  Additionally, she didn't really understand electronics too well, but she really did know the catalogue.  So when they didn't have a component in stock, she could off the top of her head, suggest alternatives, and real off the differences between what you wanted, and the alternative, at a specification level.

She was a godsend to that place, and definitely a case of being wary of first impressions.

[Mister Rog]

The branch of Maplin in MK used to have a really, stereotypical Milton Keynes dumbass woman. Came across as thick as two short planks.  Additionally, she didn't really understand electronics too well, but she really did know the catalogue.  So when they didn't have a component in stock, she could off the top of her head, suggest alternatives, and real off the differences between what you wanted, and the alternative, at a specification level.

She was a godsend to that place, and definitely a case of being wary of first impressions.

Hang on, hang on . . . . . . . . That almost sounds like a compliment. A compliment, from TB ? Can't be right   

It's April 1st right ?

 

[TheBoy]

The branch of Maplin in MK used to have a really, stereotypical Milton Keynes dumbass woman. Came across as thick as two short planks.  Additionally, she didn't really understand electronics too well, but she really did know the catalogue.  So when they didn't have a component in stock, she could off the top of her head, suggest alternatives, and real off the differences between what you wanted, and the alternative, at a specification level.

She was a godsend to that place, and definitely a case of being wary of first impressions.

Hang on, hang on . . . . . . . . That almost sounds like a compliment. A compliment, from TB ? Can't be right   

It's April 1st right ?

Fear not, she had a face like a bulldog licking piss off a stinging nettle...

[Kevin Wood]

A mate of mine from the radio club used to be the manager of the local Maplins.

I went in there once and he said to me "What are you doing in here? I told you everything we sell is Chinese cr@p!".

He did know his stuff, but didn't stick it for long.

[Lizzie Zoom]

A mate of mine from the radio club used to be the manager of the local Maplins.

I went in there once and he said to me "What are you doing in here? I told you everything we sell is Chinese cr@p!".

He did know his stuff, but didn't stick it for long.

Ah, in the Ratner style.  Like it!