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[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...