It has been useless for some time anyway. I tried to order a few things but it wouldn't let me to select delivery of it would deliver 100 miles away from here or it something else.
Still it was nice to have maplin to grab some missing component of you did not want to wait for shipment from a cheaper store.
Still it was nice to have maplin to grab some missing component of you did not want to wait for shipment from a cheaper store.
I found they only ever had a couple of each component in stock in the shop so often had to shop on their website.
The biggest problem Maplin have is the expense of a lot of their gear.
I looked at buying an HDMI cable. They were £12-50 in the shop, I got two on ebay for £2-50 ! I suspect not the same quality but not 5 times the price in quality.
I have been a customer with Maplin since 1980 so it will be sad to see them go.
However, I recently discovered CPC and they do quite good prices on components.
I was after 10 pcb jack sockets and in RS and Farnell they were about £1-25 but at CPC they were 35p each !
The biggest problem Maplin have is the expense of a lot of their gear.
I looked at buying an HDMI cable. They were £12-50 in the shop, I got two on ebay for £2-50 ! I suspect not the same quality but not 5 times the price in quality.
I have been a customer with Maplin since 1980 so it will be sad to see them go.
However, I recently discovered CPC and they do quite good prices on components.
I was after 10 pcb jack sockets and in RS and Farnell they were about £1-25 but at CPC they were 35p each !
I remember when Radio Shack here was on the ropes a couple of years ago, there wasn't from a hobbyist perspective much worth saving, more and more hollowed out as the decades went by.
It must feel the same loosing an iconic brand like Maplin and thought provoking.
I was too young to experience the vibrant electronic/radio shop rows and by the time I was old enough to start to be interested they were all dying out leaving a vacuum ineffectively filled by mail order in those days.
Then along came the internet and suddenly I could get almost any part I needed, greatly expanding the scope of my and many other's hobby activities.
The internet was the death-knell for most of these chains, progress always comes with a cost & benefit.
Nostalgia aside (and I am nostalgic to a degree) it is amazing that any of these businesses survived as long as they did.
I'm surprised that a number of surplus electronics businesses have survived in New England, but most of them have strong internet sales as well as in at least some cases walk in sales as well.
It must feel the same loosing an iconic brand like Maplin and thought provoking.
I was too young to experience the vibrant electronic/radio shop rows and by the time I was old enough to start to be interested they were all dying out leaving a vacuum ineffectively filled by mail order in those days.
Then along came the internet and suddenly I could get almost any part I needed, greatly expanding the scope of my and many other's hobby activities.
The internet was the death-knell for most of these chains, progress always comes with a cost & benefit.
Nostalgia aside (and I am nostalgic to a degree) it is amazing that any of these businesses survived as long as they did.
I'm surprised that a number of surplus electronics businesses have survived in New England, but most of them have strong internet sales as well as in at least some cases walk in sales as well.
It seems to be getting increasingly hard to sell anything.
Until Nov 2017 I was selling PCB software on ebay for about £20 a shot.
Just about sold enough to make it worthwhile.
Then in Nov 2017 4 other vendors suddenly appeared and my sales dropped through the floor.
To compete I had to drop the price sub £5 and now don't sell as many.
I tried selling at a higher price to suggest good quality but sold nothing.
There wasn't much custom before for one vendor so to now have that spread between 5 vendors is useless.
I then tried to sell some amplifier modules on ebay.
I got blown out of the water by cheap Chinese modules.
They were selling the amp with worldwide p+p for less than I could make the amp !
Just heard today that Marks and Spencers are closing down 100 stores.
Its too easy to order stuff online and save the hassle of getting parked in the city centre. I have admit I haven't visited my city centre for about a year now.
Its just too much hassle.
Until Nov 2017 I was selling PCB software on ebay for about £20 a shot.
Just about sold enough to make it worthwhile.
Then in Nov 2017 4 other vendors suddenly appeared and my sales dropped through the floor.
To compete I had to drop the price sub £5 and now don't sell as many.
I tried selling at a higher price to suggest good quality but sold nothing.
There wasn't much custom before for one vendor so to now have that spread between 5 vendors is useless.
I then tried to sell some amplifier modules on ebay.
I got blown out of the water by cheap Chinese modules.
They were selling the amp with worldwide p+p for less than I could make the amp !
Just heard today that Marks and Spencers are closing down 100 stores.
Its too easy to order stuff online and save the hassle of getting parked in the city centre. I have admit I haven't visited my city centre for about a year now.
Its just too much hassle.
I've run into many of the same problems in my various endeavors. I used to be a Western Electric tube dealer about 20 years ago amongst other things, but I couldn't compete with the guys 170 miles away in NYC who were selling 300Bs for less than it cost me to purchase them wholesale from WE.
I manufactured high end tube audio gear in small quantities for a time and that was a pretty marginal business.. LOL Lived hand to mouth, and any downturn in the economy had dire consequences.
I finally had to go get a "real" job as if trying to make it on your own wasn't real enough. LOL I just dabble once in a while when I can negotiate an agreement that makes it worthwhile.
I manufactured high end tube audio gear in small quantities for a time and that was a pretty marginal business.. LOL Lived hand to mouth, and any downturn in the economy had dire consequences.
I finally had to go get a "real" job as if trying to make it on your own wasn't real enough. LOL I just dabble once in a while when I can negotiate an agreement that makes it worthwhile.
The government don't offer cities much help by pushing the cars out further and further. I have started to drive into the burbs and then cycle the last mile quite often. That's if some out of town retail park can't help me.
Maplin was good when you needed little component stores. First Tandy moved more towards electron goods and failed. Maplin lost favour with me when they followed suit. Putting less repair stuff on the shelves and more consumer stuff.
Not much is surviving against mail order stores with their lower overheads. Many of which are never going to employ staff as it's hard work, or declare enough earnings to get taxed much. If at all.
We wanted a toy shop recently. In town, which about the 6th biggest I think. We don't have one. Just a relative newcomer on a retail park called smiths (sp). They probably make all their money at Christmas and just scrape through in summer.
It's a good thing that RS have come down in price over the years and now the public can order from them online. The Farnel group arn't bad either. Both will survive unless they try retail stores.
Have you seen what a retail store actually costs. Commercial property is about as much to rent as you would expect to buy it for, but retail is an absolute joke. You really need to own it, but even then the government are raping you. It stops me dead in my tracks. Even big players like the Sony Center and Panasonic shop have given up.
If you can manufacture from almost nothing, and retail it yourself online, then you have a viable business.
A friend sells a drinking game. It's essentially cards. He gets them printed and packaged in China. Fills the cheapest container space completely. Then sends straight to the states, where Amazon sell and distribute it. The market here in the UK isn't big enough, even for the profit made selling card as a game.
Seriously. Repunzel would struggle. (span straw into gold iirc)
Maplin was good when you needed little component stores. First Tandy moved more towards electron goods and failed. Maplin lost favour with me when they followed suit. Putting less repair stuff on the shelves and more consumer stuff.
Not much is surviving against mail order stores with their lower overheads. Many of which are never going to employ staff as it's hard work, or declare enough earnings to get taxed much. If at all.
We wanted a toy shop recently. In town, which about the 6th biggest I think. We don't have one. Just a relative newcomer on a retail park called smiths (sp). They probably make all their money at Christmas and just scrape through in summer.
It's a good thing that RS have come down in price over the years and now the public can order from them online. The Farnel group arn't bad either. Both will survive unless they try retail stores.
Have you seen what a retail store actually costs. Commercial property is about as much to rent as you would expect to buy it for, but retail is an absolute joke. You really need to own it, but even then the government are raping you. It stops me dead in my tracks. Even big players like the Sony Center and Panasonic shop have given up.
If you can manufacture from almost nothing, and retail it yourself online, then you have a viable business.
A friend sells a drinking game. It's essentially cards. He gets them printed and packaged in China. Fills the cheapest container space completely. Then sends straight to the states, where Amazon sell and distribute it. The market here in the UK isn't big enough, even for the profit made selling card as a game.
Seriously. Repunzel would struggle. (span straw into gold iirc)
The retailers seem to be jumping off cliffs like lemmings. Three times in the last 3 weeks I have looked up the price of something I need, found a store locally that stocks it and gone there only to be told that the product I want is only available online. And these were nationals with prob 200+ stores. I'm not going to waste my time again.
The Maplin website knew what was in stock at the shops.
From the website you could input store location and it would tell you the stock levels.
Yes, you could post filter each item manually. It was slow though if you wanted a number of items.
I would of liked a pre filter, to ask for catalogue results in stock at my store. So I knew, anything in my results was available.
This would need stock control to work properly, but that's another story.
I mostly shop online. It doesn't even have to be cheaper. It saves time and transport costs, compared to a drive into town. You have to weigh it up. Yesterday I spent £1.50 in a local shop, buying a watch battery chopped from a card of about 20, that the shop keeper got from Poundland. So, I paid £1.50 for a 5p battery. But it was fast, and I didn't need the other 19, or the £7 fuel bill that makes them 40p each. Plus I didn't loose half an hour in the process.
I could of fetched one from Maplin, but we are over a tenner + time before even loading their website. Even mail order from them would of cost more than £1.50 in postage. They no longer served a purpose as an electronic component supplier. They knew it, as could be seen on the shelves. It was budget disco lights you would feel bad about owning. Gold plated hdmi leads at 4 times the right price. Network cables and routers. Ride on battery powered kids toys. A small amount of goods from a few sectors, better served by specific shops. Such as the Sound&Light store or PC World or the toy shop that folded on the same day. They followed the Tandy path without deviation. I saw this coming decades ago.
I will miss the bargain areas. When they wanted a graded and no longer stocked item to be gone, they shifted it. I would often walk in just to look in that corner. I will miss that, I really will. It didn't earn them anything though.
I remember them selling the audax aerogels for peanuts. I had a number of the yellow fiberglass and black kevlar drivers to. The 25mm dome tweeters. All about £20 each off the shelf. While audiophile outlets were asking double. That for me was the hay day. Big yellow caps and kits to wind your own transformer. It's 20 years ago though.
I would of liked a pre filter, to ask for catalogue results in stock at my store. So I knew, anything in my results was available.
This would need stock control to work properly, but that's another story.
I mostly shop online. It doesn't even have to be cheaper. It saves time and transport costs, compared to a drive into town. You have to weigh it up. Yesterday I spent £1.50 in a local shop, buying a watch battery chopped from a card of about 20, that the shop keeper got from Poundland. So, I paid £1.50 for a 5p battery. But it was fast, and I didn't need the other 19, or the £7 fuel bill that makes them 40p each. Plus I didn't loose half an hour in the process.
I could of fetched one from Maplin, but we are over a tenner + time before even loading their website. Even mail order from them would of cost more than £1.50 in postage. They no longer served a purpose as an electronic component supplier. They knew it, as could be seen on the shelves. It was budget disco lights you would feel bad about owning. Gold plated hdmi leads at 4 times the right price. Network cables and routers. Ride on battery powered kids toys. A small amount of goods from a few sectors, better served by specific shops. Such as the Sound&Light store or PC World or the toy shop that folded on the same day. They followed the Tandy path without deviation. I saw this coming decades ago.
I will miss the bargain areas. When they wanted a graded and no longer stocked item to be gone, they shifted it. I would often walk in just to look in that corner. I will miss that, I really will. It didn't earn them anything though.
I remember them selling the audax aerogels for peanuts. I had a number of the yellow fiberglass and black kevlar drivers to. The 25mm dome tweeters. All about £20 each off the shelf. While audiophile outlets were asking double. That for me was the hay day. Big yellow caps and kits to wind your own transformer. It's 20 years ago though.
"The Maplin website knew what was in stock at the shops.
From the website you could input store location and it would tell you the stock levels."
Yes.... so long as peeps had put the stuff in the right drawer I got frustrated a few times.
Gonna miss them, the staff are so enthusiastic and keen to learn too, but maybe that's just my store
From the website you could input store location and it would tell you the stock levels."
Yes.... so long as peeps had put the stuff in the right drawer
I got frustrated a few times.Gonna miss them, the staff are so enthusiastic and keen to learn too, but maybe that's just my store
Yes.... so long as peeps had put the stuff in the right drawer
The Carlisle store were quite good, I think they just once had no stock when website said there was stock.
TO ANY Maplin staff who may stumble upon this thread we ALL wish you the very best of future employments, I certainly adored all the staff at my local (Ipswich) branch
The staff were a bit mixed at Carlisle.
Most would say hello as I walked in but one bloke always ignored me.
I was stood at the soldering iron shelf when I heard a female staff member say to another staff member, "He comes in here a lot but rarely buys anything". I was steaming after all the money I had spent with Maplin since 1980. So I complained to head office. Next time I was in a staff member apologised to me and said she agreed I had spent lots over the years.
I guess you get good and bad people in life so I just accept thats life and it happens.
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