The impact of Maplins closing

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vizviz Frets: 10647
I wanted to get an XLR to RCA cable today; as Maplins is no more, I checked our Curry’s / PC World about 500 yards away because they quite often have useful cables. They had nothing. I asked why they’d stopped selling cables, and got told it was because Maplins had closed. Apparently Maplins used to share their cables stock with PC World, so now they’ve gone, so have PC World’s cables supply, which is a nuisance. 
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  • darthed1981darthed1981 Frets: 11673
    Damn shame about Maplins, but the problem was they just could not compete with online shopping and pay high street rent and rates.

    Paying for a big warehouse is just simply cheaper but Maplins couldn't challenge that market when across the board the internet is already over-stuffed with online electronics retailers.

    Sadly fairly inevitable.  The only reason HMV survives (and will continue to, most likely) is as a storefront for the music labels and movie distributors themselves to avoid them becoming completely Amazon's bitch.  WH Smith must be on borrowed time by now.

    A UK chain of Amazon shops will likely hit the market soon.  That will conquer the high street for the internet retailers once and for all.
    We have to be so very careful, what we believe in...
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  • sixstringsuppliessixstringsupplies Frets: 429
    tFB Trader
    I believe Maplins is making a comeback...their homepage says they are relaunching soon, and I read something about Peter Jones (Dragons Den) buying the intellectual property, trademark and website of the brand.

    https://www.maplin.co.uk/

    https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/09/13/dragons_den_badass_jones_buys_fallen_maplins_ip/

    Whether Peter Jones does anything with it, or has just bought it to stop anyone else doing anything with it remains to be seen.

    Hope so - today I got dragged around town with the Mrs...in months/years gone buy I would go to Maplins to escape (only 1 guitar shop where I am based and the stock really doesn't turnover at all, so there is not a lot to looka t once you have been there once or twice). Expensive it was, but always good for the odd component.
    For Modders, Makers, Players

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  • Hmm.  In the thread about Guildford, I mentioned how Harrow high street seems to have gone down the toilet.  A big stretch of the empty shop fronts is where Maplins  used to be.
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  • robgilmorobgilmo Frets: 3359
    They were expensive for most things.
    A Deuce , a Tele and a cup of tea.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71960
    robgilmo said:
    They were expensive for most things.
    They were, but sometimes the convenience of being able to walk to a shop five minutes away and buy something I needed for an on-the-spot job made the price irrelevant.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • robgilmorobgilmo Frets: 3359
    Totally agree but for me they were always a last resort, a lot of their stuff wasn't the best quality either, it's a shame because they could have been so much better.
    A Deuce , a Tele and a cup of tea.
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  • crunchmancrunchman Frets: 11413
    They could have done a lot better than they did though.  A lot of their stuff was ridiculously expensive.

    High Street Shops can do a lot better than that.  I recently bought a printer in Rymans that was no more expensive (may even have been a little cheaper) than Amazon.  They only had 2 models to chose from, but they must have bought those 2 models in bulk, and the price on both was really good.

    Maplin, on the other hand, were normally 30% more than online on most things.  Even more than that on some electronic components.  I needed a resistor and it was about 10 times the price of online.
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  • RockerRocker Frets: 4947
    ICBM said:
    robgilmo said:
    They were expensive for most things.
    They were, but sometimes the convenience of being able to walk to a shop five minutes away and buy something I needed for an on-the-spot job made the price irrelevant.

    Yeah, that is so very true.  I got a Humax sat box with a hard drive for little more than one would cost online.  And I would have had to pay postage on top of the online price.  I hope they make a comeback and that Ireland is included in any re-openings of stores.
    Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]

    Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

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  • thermionicthermionic Frets: 9499
    I had a Maplins ten minutes walk from my house, and I missed it today. I’ve been building an Ampmaker kit and I bodged the soldering of a resistor, and ended up snapping the leg off it. Usually I’d pop in and get a couple of replacements and carry on. Now I have to wait until the ebay parts arrive about Wednesday.
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  • RobDaviesRobDavies Frets: 3062
    edited October 2018
    I still miss Tandy.  

    Their christmas catalogue was a sight to behold for a ten year old me. 
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  • thermionicthermionic Frets: 9499
    I loved the Tandy catalogue. Especially all the Realistic branded stuff.
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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24579
    I must admit I’m missing the competition Butlins used to get... and Ruth Madoc always did it for me.
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  • jonnyburgojonnyburgo Frets: 12258
    They were the Halfords of electronics really, staff were just clueless salesmen. 
    "OUR TOSSPOT"
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  • BodBod Frets: 1286
    I loved the Tandy catalogue. Especially all the Realistic branded stuff.
    Their PZM boundary mics were ace.  I've still got one somewhere.

    I miss Maplin though I only really used them for emergencies.  Y'know, when I urgently needed a remote control car or weather station.
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  • OctafishOctafish Frets: 1937
    They were the Halfords of electronics really, staff were just clueless salesmen. 
    Yeah, and just like Halfords always tantalisingly open on a Sunday, but almost certain to not have the one thing what you are after. Can't say I miss them, but then I'm lucky to have the far superior Rapid Electronics a 15 min drive away.
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  • usedtobeusedtobe Frets: 3841
    Bod said:
    I loved the Tandy catalogue. Especially all the Realistic branded stuff.
    Their PZM boundary mics were ace.  I've still got one somewhere.

    I miss Maplin though I only really used them for emergencies.  Y'know, when I urgently needed a remote control car or weather station.
    I used to do all my recording with a pzm. Was gutted when it died!
     so if you fancy a reissue of a guitar they never made in a colour they never used then it probably isn't too overpriced.

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  • ReverendReverend Frets: 4974
    RobDavies said:
    I still miss Tandy.  

    Their christmas catalogue was a sight to behold for a ten year old me. 
    A BMX facemask from Halfords plus a CD radio and some red LEDs  from Tandy and I was convinced I could make myself ready for space force. 
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  • mudslide73mudslide73 Frets: 3049
    I liked Maplins for the convenience. The unfortunate thing for them was their core audience was the teccy web surfing pricebuster. The staff were all right once they figured you weren't a noob. Ours were ok fwiw. Also our Maplins was next door to an Argos and B&Q which meant a lot of their stuff was available more cheaply nearby. 
    "A city star won’t shine too far"


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  • scrumhalfscrumhalf Frets: 11262
    I loved the Tandy catalogue. Especially all the Realistic branded stuff.
    Everything was "as low as" in terms of price, if you bought a billion of them.

    Maplin was great when it was just a handful of shops. They did what they did well.
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  • thermionicthermionic Frets: 9499
    Bod said:
    I loved the Tandy catalogue. Especially all the Realistic branded stuff.
    Their PZM boundary mics were ace.  I've still got one somewhere.

    Before the advent of cheap Chinese condenser mikes, these were the big secret in the 4-track world. My friend and partner in 4-track crime (we released 2 7" singles!) bought one and lent it to me. Quite surprised when I plugged it in to try recording an acoustic guitar and hearing a car at the other end of the street through my headphones.
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