End for Maplins?

[MattyB]

I’m not going to say “it’s such a shame”, as to do so would be hypocritical on my part. It was exactly the same with Solarfilm a few weeks ago. The facts are clear - Maplin has gone bust because they couldn’t attract enough buyers for their products at a price that enabled them to make a profit. For the past 10 years I have probably gone in three or four times tops, each time having spent relatively little (<£40-50) but got a product I needed quickly at a price a fair bit higher than I could get online. The rest of the time I went online and took the saving. In reality they were a business built on a market (home electronics) that had disappeared long ago and is never going to return.

We can all lament the passing of the high street and the big brands that used to populate it, but it’s becoming clear that consumers will not choose to save the “old” high street - convenience and low prices will win out. That means there are only two options.

1) Town centres become service centres full of restaurants and hairdressers with very few shops selling actual products. Those shops that remain are more like Next or Argos are these days where as many people are coming in to pickup/try on online purchases as shop directly from what is in stock.

2) Governments intervene and incentivise businesses to take up town centre premises by making them financially competitive with setting up an online only operation. They will have to be brave to do so, but cutting business rates and/or VAT for small independents trading from shop fronts could provide a lifeline for the high street. It would be mired in legal wrangling and the lobbyists from Amazon et al will be out in force opposing at every turn, but I’d love it to happen.

Edited By MattyB on 01/03/2018 00:17:16

[Gary Manuel]

2 ain't going to happen Matty.

Looks like we are stuck with 1.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Can't see me n you making hairdresser wealthy Gary...coffee anyone ?

[Plummet]

Posted by Paul Marsh on 28/02/2018 19:43:06:

<snip/>

Probably in 10 years, the high street won't exist, apart from hairdressers, charity shops and pound shops.

You forgot the coffee shops!

Plummet

[MattyB]

Posted by Gary Manuel on 01/03/2018 00:26:47:

2 ain't going to happen Matty.

Looks like we are stuck with 1.

Sadly I agree.

[ken anderson.]

Maplin's-too expensive. Our town centre(if you want to call it that) has approx 18-19 empty shops, you cant get what you need there-so no point in going down..

ken Anderson...ne...1..... goodbye to the shops dept.

[Cuban8]

I really can't think why I'd need to visit my local Maplin shop................clearly, many share the same view. The supermarkets and Argos have all the choice I need for most home electronics, and they are usually in a price war with the other big retailers, so shopping around can save you a lot of money. Anything else, and it'll be a search on the web amongst the hundreds of suppliers that are at your fingertips. The latest 'must haves' (the D word) appear in just about every gadget shop and department store, and they do it bigger and better and more cheaply - so Maplin never really had a chance to cash in there. The number of sales of electronic components must be miniscule now - build your own radio or computer just doesn't cut it these days, sadly.

Poor old Maplin have simply lost their identity and direction, therefore just don't come to mind when buying electrical goods these days, and has become irrelevant, hence the failure IMHO. Surprised that they lasted this long.

Edited By Cuban8 on 01/03/2018 10:42:20

[Jonathan M]

Posted by Gary Manuel on 01/03/2018 00:26:47:

2 ain't going to happen Matty.

Looks like we are stuck with 1.

Wasn't there however a recent suggestion in the news to tax offshore companies like Amazon on their UK sales?

My local town is already jam-packed with hairdressers and nail-bars!

[Peter Christy]

Maplin's big problem, from my perspective, was that there was such a huge variation in the quality of the shops. I have two branches of Maplins "locally" ("locally" meaning a 45+ minute drive!)

The one in Exeter is excellent, with good stock levels, knowledgeable staff and its own (small) car park. Its problem is that it is in a very congested area and half the journey time is spent sitting in stationary traffic!

The other is in Plymouth. Quicker and easier to get to, but only a multi-storey car park some distance away. Stock levels poor and staff not very knowledgeable - in my experience anyway!

But, they were good for useful stuff that you sometimes need to get in a hurry, and it will be a shame to see them go. One less option available to those of us who "do our own thing".

--

Pete

[Paul Marsh]

Looks like Carpet right is next, following talks with the banks with its £22m debt. Their shares crashed 40% following a profit warning.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[MattyB]

An interesting article from the FT on this subject...

[Bob Cotsford]

Subscribers only by the look of it Matty!

[Robert Cracknell]

If any of you have a particular Maplin product you covet you may still have time to get it....

28/2/18

"Chief executive Graham Harris said in a statement on the day of the announcement "I can confirm this morning that it has not been possible to secure a solvent sale of the business and as a result we now have no alternative but to enter into an administration process.

"During this process Maplin will continue to trade and remains open for business."

[Devcon1]

Is it all about price ?

I priced up, a few months back, some LEDs, micro switches, CR2032 battery holders and small gauge wire. The price from Maplin was about 6 times the price of my eventual EBay supplier.

[cymaz]

Posted by Devcon1 on 02/03/2018 13:46:54:
Is it all about price ?

I priced up, a few months back, some LEDs, micro switches, CR2032 battery holders and small gauge wire. The price from Maplin was about 6 times the price of my eventual EBay supplier.

Maplin has the overheads ..etc. Bodmin is filling up with charity shops, coffee shops.

Not a total loss yet though.

There is an Iceland in the middle of the Main Street. Where Woolworths used to be . Superdrug, Millits ( get my tee shirts from there) then the usual....butcher, WH Smith, Costcutter, local electrical shop. Not a bad spread really but it does need regular patronage to keep them going.

[Geoff S]

Maplin's had a shop in the middle of Derby that I found convenient because these days I go in by (free) bus but I used to cycle in every day until I retired back in 1995. They moved the shop to an out of town shopping centre and I'm not even sure which one so I never bother with them any longer.

When I was working I had little need of shops like them because I was awash with all things electronic at work and I could borrow sophisticated test and measurement gear (officially) if I was doing anything at home. There was, and still is, a much better shop than Maplins in Derby. RF Potts have been in business since they sold surplus components just after the war and the staff is very knowledgeable. I've never gone in and got served straight away because there are always customers ahead of me. They still have electronic 'junk' in the window as well as new modern components. It's a treasure trove of all things electronic and much cheaper than Maplin's.

Geoff

[Martyn K]

RF Potts LOL You couldn't make it up.. Brilliant

[cymaz]

Posted by Martyn K on 02/03/2018 16:19:24:

RF Potts LOL You couldn't make it up.. Brilliant

Wasn’t he a character from Round the Horn ?

[Geoff S]

Apparently, they even have a Facebook page. I never checked before and it says they've been in business since the 1930s!

It's an institution in Derby. Are there similar shops elsewhere?

Geoff

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Geoff S]

Well our house is around 200 years old and we have email addresses, numerous computers and I understand one of the occupants makes RC model aeroplanes. Who'd 'a' thunk it?

Geoff

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[John Privett]

Posted by Geoff Sleath on 02/03/2018 16:28:02:

It's an institution in Derby. Are there similar shops elsewhere?

 

I've no idea if it's still there, but 'back in the day' (I'm thinking 1970's) Aitken Bros. was a shop that sounds very similar in Newcastle.

Tucked away down a little back lane off Bigg Market they sold electronic components and some larger electronic gear. It was a tiny shop, somewhat in the style of the "four candles" (Two Ronnies) shop with a counter and lots of shelves and drawers behind it. The knowledgeable staff there would turn to these drawers, get you your 1k 1/4W resistors, couple of 2N29296's, a BC109, some ceramic capacitors etc. etc. and quickly have you on your way to build whatever it was you were building. Always busy, but never too long to wait to be served.

They were of course a little more expensive than the mail order shops of the day - Electrovalue was the one I used a few times - but not too much more, and somewhat quicker. I recall Tandys opening a shop in an expensive shopping centre in Newcastle and I had to laugh at their prices when I first went in there for a look. 1/4W resistors would be about 1p each from Electrovalue, maybe 1.5p or 2p from Aitken Bros, but from Tandys you had to buy a pair of them on a blister-pack card for something like 30 or 40p! I feel Maplin headed in that sort of direction too...

[EDIT]  Well, I'm not altogether surprised,  but a quick "google" took me to this picture (from April 2011) and the following text;

"Until recently, this was the famous Aitken Brothers electronics store. Everything from a resistor to an an oscilloscope was obtainable here. Latterly it had morphed into disco balls and boom box mixers. Part of the Newcastle scene vanished with the demise of first one and then the second of the brothers and their quirky, yet popular store."

Edited By John Privett on 02/03/2018 21:34:40

[Craig Carr]

 

Posted by John Privett on 02/03/2018 21:29:13:

Posted by Geoff Sleath on 02/03/2018 16:28:02:

It's an institution in Derby. Are there similar shops elsewhere?

 

I've no idea if it's still there, but 'back in the day' (I'm thinking 1970's) Aitken Bros. was a shop that sounds very similar in Newcastle.

Tucked away down a little back lane off Bigg Market they sold electronic components and some larger electronic gear. It was a tiny shop, somewhat in the style of the "four candles" (Two Ronnies) shop with a counter and lots of shelves and drawers behind it. The knowledgeable staff there would turn to these drawers, get you your 1k 1/4W resistors, couple of 2N29296's, a BC109, some ceramic capacitors etc. etc. and quickly have you on your way to build whatever it was you were building. Always busy, but never too long to wait to be served.

"Until recently, this was the famous Aitken Brothers electronics store. Everything from a resistor to an an oscilloscope was obtainable here. Latterly it had morphed into disco balls and boom box mixers. Part of the Newcastle scene vanished with the demise of first one and then the second of the brothers and their quirky, yet popular store."

Edited By John Privett on 02/03/2018 21:34:40

That’s a real blast from the past John i used to often visit aitken bros “when I were a lad”. Great place and fondly remember my father buying me an airband radio to listen to civiliian aircraft comms from Newcastle airport.

Happy memories. I’m luck enough to still have a similar shop not far from where I live ESR in cullercoats.....a similar Aladdin’s cave... top staff....

Edited By Craig Carr on 03/03/2018 08:07:35